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ROOSEVELT:    THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 


©RemOial  &Afarman  Putts.  If  Y. 


ROOSEVELT 

THE 

HAPPY  WARRIOR 


BY 


BRADLEY  GILMAN 


WITH   ILLUSTRATIONS    FROM 
PHOTOGRAPHS 


Aggressive  fighting  for  the  right  is  the  noblest  sport 
affords." 


the  world 


—  THEODOBE  ROOSEVELT. 


BOSTON 

LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY 
1921 


Copyright, 
BY  LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY. 


All  rights  reserved 
Published  October,  1921 


PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


TO 
M.  R.  F.  G. 

MY     FELLOW     TRAVELER,     WHOSE     INTEL 
LIGENT  SYMPATHY  HAS  BEEN   TO   ME 
THE    VERY    BREATH    OF    LIFE, 
I    DEDICATE     THIS    BOOK 


458939 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

Who  is  the  happy  Warrior?     Who  is  he 

That  every  man  in  arms  should  wish  to  be? 

— It  is  the  generous  Spirit,  who,  when  brought 

Among  the  tasks  of  real  life,  hath  wrought 

Upon  the  plan  that  pleased  his  boyish  thought: 

Whose  high  endeavours  are  an  inward  light 

That  makes  the  path  before  him  always  bright: 

Who,  with  a  natural  instinct  to  discern 

What  knowledge  can  perform,  is  diligent  to  learn; 

Who,  doomed  to  go  in  company  with  Pain, 
And  Fear,  and  Bloodshed,  miserable  train! 
Turns  his  necessity  to  glorious  gain; 

'Tis  he  whose  law  is  reason;  who  depends 
Upon  that  law  as  on  the  best  of  friends; 

He  labours  good  on  good  to  fix,  and  owes 
To  virtue  every  triumph  that  he  knows: 
— Who,  if  he  rise  to  station  of  command, 
Rises  by  open  means;  and  there  will  stand 
On  honourable  terms,  or  else  retire, 
And  in  himself  possess  his  own  desire; 
Who  comprehends  his  trust,  and  to  the  same 
Keeps  faithful  with  a  singleness  of  aim. 

— He  who,  though  thus  endued  as  with  a  sense 

And  faculty  for  storm  and  turbulence, 

Is  yet  a  Soul  whose  master-bias  leans 

To  homefelt  pleasures  and  to  gentle  scenes. 

— William  Wordsworth. 


PREFACE 

My  old-time  Professor  of  English,  at  Harvard, 
Francis  J.  Child,  once  said  to  me,  "Sonnets  are 
things  which  everybody  writes  and  nobody  reads." 
Be  that  as  it  may,  I  fear  that  Prefaces  are  things 
which  every  author  writes  and  few  people  read. 
In  truth,  most  authors,  I  suspect,  write  two  pref 
aces.  The  first  one  when  they  square  themselves 
to  their  task  and  desire  to  "sketch  in"  their  plan 
and  purpose.  When  they  have  finished  their  work, 
they  tear  up  this  written  preface  and  write  a  new 
one,  telling  what  they  believe  they  have  accom 
plished. 

This  has  been  my  own  course  of  procedure.  My 
preliminary  preface  is  in  the  wastebasket.  And 
now,  surveying  my  completed  work,  what  do  I  find  ? 
Yes,  and  what  do  I  wish  my  readers  to  find? 

I  have  tried  to  analyze  the  character  of  my  col 
lege  classmate,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  and  to  inter 
pret  him  by  his  words  and  deeds.  I  have  not  hesi 
tated  to  go  quite  beyond  the  reportorial  field  of 
the  chronicler.  I  have  not  cared  to  express  a  coldly 
judicial  attitude.  Rather  have  I  sought  to  set 


x  PREFACE 

forth  that  high  estimate  of  him  which  I  have  cher 
ished  through  more  than  three  decades. 

I  have  sought,  by  my  interpretations  of  his  words 
and  deeds,  to  strengthen  in  his  friends  the  love 
which  they  already  feel.  And,  by  laying  bare  to 
the  noonday  light,  so  far  as  I  have  had  the  power, 
his  innermost  springs  of  action,  I  have  hoped  to 
transform  into  sincere  friends  some  who  once  were 
honest  foes.  Following  the  lead  of  Wordsworth's 
immortal  conception,  I  picture  Theodore  Roose 
velt  to  myself  and  to  my  readers  as  "The  Happy 
Warrior."  Joy  and  combat.  Elevation  of  soul 
through  championship  of  Right  and  Truth.  Those 
are  the  two  focrof  the  ellipse  which  expresses  his 
strenuous  life. 

Several  biographies  of  Roosevelt  have  already 
been  written,  with  varying  values  and  from  various 
viewpoints.  My  method,  in  this  book,  has  been  so 
personal  and  intimate  that  I  have  needed  to  seek 
material  from  many  persons  who  were  his  friends 
and  mine.  They  have  responded  freely,  gener 
ously.  To  them  all  —  and  especially  to  my  class 
mates  of  Harvard,  '80  —  I  express  my  warmest 
thanks. 

I  wish,  also,  to  acknowledge,  gratefully,  the  as 
sistance  I  have  received  from  these  books:  "Theo 
dore  Roosevelt,  An  Autobiography",  "Theodore 
Roosevelt  and  His  Time",  2  vols.,  by  Joseph  Buck- 


PREFACE  xi 

lin  Bishop,  "Theodore  Roosevelt's  Letters  to  His 
Children",  edited  by  Joseph  Bucklin  Bishop,  pub 
lished  by  Charles  Scribner's  Sons;  "Theodore 
Roosevelt",  by  William  Roscoe  Thayer,  "Theodore 
Roosevelt,  the  Logic  of  His  Career",  by  Charles 
G.  Washburn,  "Talks  with  T.  R.",  by  John  J. 
Leary,  Jr.,  published  by  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.; 
"Life  of  Theodore  Roosevelt",  by  William  Draper 
Lewis,  published  by  John  C.  Winston  Co.;  "Im 
pressions  of  Theodore  Roosevelt",  by  Lawrence  F. 
Abbott,  published  by  Doubleday,  Page  Co.;  "Theo 
dore  Roosevelt  the  Citizen",  by  Jacob  Riis,  pub 
lished  by  Macmillan  Co.;  "The  Boys'  Life  of 
Theodore  Roosevelt",  by  Hermann  Hagedorn,  Jr., 
"Bill  Sewall's  Story  of  T.  R.",  by  William  W. 
Sewall,  published  by  Harper  &  Brothers;  "Theo 
dore  Roosevelt  the  Man",  by  Ferdinand  C.  Igle- 
hart,  D.D.,  published  by  The  Christian  Herald. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

PREFACE ix 

I     THE  BENDING  OF  THE  TWIG 1 

II     BULBS  AND  BLOSSOMS 12 

III  THE  CLASS  OF  '80 24 

IV  MORE   COLLEGE   DAYS 41 

V     A   POST-GRADUATE    COURSE 62 

VI     "!N  COWBOY  LAND" 76 

VII     VICTORS  AND  SPOILS 97 

VIII     "THE  FINEST"  REFINED 118 

IX     THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 133 

X     GOVERNOR  OF  THE  EMPIRE  STATE     .      .      .      .  164 

XI     A  RELUCTANT  VICE-PRESIDENT 182 

XII     THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLATEAU — FIRST  HALF        .  201 

XIII  ELECTED  PRESIDENT 229 

XIV  His  GREATEST  VICTORY 276 

XV     LAUREL  AND  CYPRESS 300 

XVI     VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH 328 

INDEX  361 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Photogravure  Portrait  of   Theodore   Roosevelt     Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Roosevelt's  home  while  at    Harvard,  upper  floor     .      .  25 

Ell  of  House  at  Cambridge  where  Dining-Club  met       .  25 

Members  of  Dining-Club,  at  Harvard,  1880      ...  43 

Members  of  Dining-Club,  1905 43 

The  Rough  Rider;  From  Punch,  London     ....  144 

Roosevelt  in  the  White  House 211 

Letter  from  Roosevelt  to  the  Author 236 

Roosevelt  Talks  with  Kaiser  Wilhelm 292 

At  the  Polling-Place  in  Oyster  Bay 302 

Frazier's  Bronze  Bas-relief  of  Roosevelt     .  347 


ROOSEVELT: 
THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  BENDING  OF  THE  TWIG 

My  earliest  recollection  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  is 
still  fresh  in  my  memory.  I  saw  him,  really  to  dis 
tinguish  him  for  the  first  time,  in  the  transept  of 
Memorial  Hall,  Cambridge,  in  October,  Eighteen 
Hundred  Seventy- Six  —  our  Freshman  year. 

I  had  come  out  of  the  dining-hall,  and,  as  I 
walked  toward  the  outer  door,  I  noticed  three  fellow 
students  engaged  in  animated  discussion.  What 
the  topic  was  I  knew  not.  But  I  was  struck  by  the 
earnestness  with  which  one  of  them  was  setting 
forth  some  point  to  the  other  two,  in  turn. 

The  speaker  emphasized  his  points  by  vigorous 
movements  of  his  head  and  by  striking  his  right  fist 
into  his  left  palm.  He  was  a  lad  of  medium  height. 
His  slightly  curling  hair  was  a  light  brown  color, 
and  he  wore  side  whiskers.  Behind  his  spectacles  I 
could  see  his  keen  blue  eyes  flash,  and  he  seemed 


«:  :     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

entirely  absorbed  in  his  speaking.  His  words 
poured  out  rapidly,  and  he  fairly  stammered  in  his 
eagerness  to  express  his  ideas.  He  frowned  as  he 
talked,  yet  at  times  he  paused  and  smiled.  And  I 
noted,  for  the  first  time,  his  singular  yet  winning 
expression  as  his  short  upper  lip  bared  his  teeth. 

"Who  is  he  ?"  I  asked  of  the  friend  with  me.  And 
the  reply  came,  with  an  amused  smile,  "Oh,  that's 
Teddy  Roosevelt,  one  of  our  '80  men." 

From  that  point  of  time  on  through  forty  years 
Roosevelt  became  to  me  more  and  more  a  marked 
personality.  And  my  acquaintance  with  him,  be 
ginning  slenderly,  enlarged  and  strengthened  until 
I  counted  myself,  through  the  great  rich  years  of 
his  mature  power  and  world-wide  fame,  one  of  his 
most  appreciative  and  devoted  friends. 

Upon  the  period  of  his  life  which  lay  back  of  my 
first  sight  of  him  —  the  period  of  his  childhood 
and  boyhood  -  -  I  am  compelled,  of  course,  to  look 
through  eyes  other  than  my  own.  Indeed,  chiefly  — 
like  fellow  chroniclers  of  his  life  —  through  his  own 
eyes.  For  to  him,  in  his  "Autobiography",  are  we 
mainly  indebted  for  such  knowledge  as  we  have  of 
his  earliest  years. 

Lucius  Eugene  Chittenden,  at  one  time  private 
secretary  to  Abraham  Lincoln,  kept  a  diary  and 
afterward  wrote  "Memories"  of  the  great  man 
whom  he  served.  And  in  them  he  drops  the  casual, 


THE  BENDING  OF  THE  TWIG  3 

naive  remark,  "Had  I  known,  at  the  time,  how  great 
a  man  Lincoln  was,  I  could  have  written  far  more 
details  about  him  than  I  did." 

Would  that  he  had  better  known  the  great 
Emancipator.  And  would  that  some  friend  and 
associate  of  the  boy  Roosevelt  could  have  discerned 
the  unfolding  greatness  in  him  and  set  down  ten 
times  the  number  of  incidents  and  anecdotes,  say 
ings  and  conversations,  which  we  treasure,  in  the  all 
too  meager  Autobiography. 

I  have  long  been  interested  in  comparing  him, 
the  mature  statesman  and  reformer,  with  himself  as 
the  child  and  the  schoolboy.  I  take  the  woven 
fabric  of  his  mature  character,  as  it  now  lies  exposed 
to  the  gaze  of  the  whole  world,  and  try  to  trace  the 
threads  of  that  firm  fabric  as  they  run  back  into 
his  boyhood  and  childhood.  They  were  tremen 
dously  strong,  many  of  them,  at  his  age  of  forty  and 
fifty,  but  were  essentially  identical  with  the  slen 
derer,  more  fragile  threads  of  his  earlier  years. 

Take  this  "thread"  as  an  illustration.  I  read,  not 
long  ago,  an  account  of  his  excursion  with  Earl 
Grey  over  English  fields  and  meadows,  on  Roose 
velt's  journey  back  from  Africa,  and  about  the 
pleasure  of  the  two  men  in  their  observation  of  the 
birds.  Earl  Grey  expressed  surprise  at  Roosevelt's 
interest  in  them  and  his  knowledge  of  them. 

Trace   that    "thread"    farther   back    along   the 


4        ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

fabric  of  Roosevelt's  life.  John  Burroughs,  an 
authority  on  such  matters,  declared  that  Roosevelt 
had  remarkable  familiarity  with  the  birds  of  this 
country. 

Still  farther  back,  some  of  us  recall  a  somewhat 
heated  controversy  on  nature  study  which  ran  the 
rounds  of  the  newspapers.  Roosevelt  had  ques 
tioned  some  of  the  interpretations  of  smaller  animal 
life  set  forth  by  a  well-known  naturalist.  I  forget 
which  of  the  two  disputants  was  correct  —  Roose 
velt,  I  think  —  but  the  controversy  showed  that  my 
former  classmate  had  observed  very  keenly. 

Thus  the  thread  of  nature  study  runs  through 
out  his  entire  life.  In  his  college  course  it  was 
very  apparent  from  his  choice  of  studies.  It  leaps 
into  humorous  prominence  in  that  story  of  his  ride 
from  Boston  to  Cambridge,  in  the  horse  car,  having 
beside  him  several  live  lobsters  for  study  in  a 
loosely  tied  package.  One  of  the  lobsters  crawled 
out  of  the  package  and  up  into  an  adjacent  woman 
passenger's  lap,  to  her  great  alarm.  Recapture 
and  apologies  followed.  But  there  was  the  thread 
of  the  naturalist  running  through  the  incident. 

Back  runs  the  naturalist  thread  into  Roosevelt's 
childhood.  He  was,  mentally,  a  good  observer, 
but  normal  physical  sight  was  denied  him.  He 
found  out  his  deficiency  when  he  was  about  twelve 
years  old.  But  before  that  time,  handicapped  as 


THE  BENDING  OF  THE  TWIG  5 

he  was,  he  observed  insects,  fish,  animals,  flowers, 
flora  and  fauna ;  and  there  was  present  in  him  that 
genuine  scientific  spirit  which  later  came  into  so 
full  a  fruition.  How  amusing,  and  yet  how  sig 
nificant  to  the  analyst,  the  psychologist,  are  the 
stories  told  about  his  "Museum  of  Natural  His 
tory!"  Other  youthful  members  of  the  family  lent 
their  aid,  but  he  was  the  leader,  and  hardly  out  of 
pinafores. 

At  that  stage  of  his  career,  he  became  interested 
in  white  mice.  And  with  a  resourcefulness  and 
energy  which  never  left  him  but  rather  increased 
as  years  passed  and  physical  strength  increased, 
he  informed  the  neighborhood  that  he  would  pay 
five  cents  for  each  white  mouse  sent  to  him,  and 
thirty-five  cents  for  a  family  of  them.  Result? 
The  house  was  swamped  by  contributions. 

One  of  his  acquisitions  was  a  snapping  turtle, 
which  he  fastened  to  the  leg  of  the  sink  in  the 
laundry.  And  one  of  the  housemaids  gave  notice 
that  she  would  leave  unless  the  turtle  was  removed. 

A  hint  of  the  thoroughness  which  was  always 
a  marked  characteristic  of  him  comes  out  in  the 
recorded  incident  that  he  had  secured  a  dead  wood- 
chuck  and  wished  to  set  up  its  skeleton.  And  he 
told  the  cook  to  boil  the  body  "twenty-four  hours, 
so  that  the  bones  would  all  separate  out,  and  not 
one  be  lost  to  science." 


6        ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

The  story  of  the  dead  seal,  measured  by  him 
in  front  of  the  store,  and  the  incident  of  the  white 
mice,  put  for  safe  keeping  into  the  ice  chest,  —  a 
preservative  device,  surely  —  those  stories  hint  at 
the  same  eager  activity,  wide  range  of  interest,  and 
vigorous  originality  which  characterized  him  in 
mature  life. 

Every  "live  boy"  of  any  age  can  sympathize 
with  him,  as  he  trudged  about,  dragging  a  copy 
of  one  of  Mayne  Reid's  adventure  books,  or  Liv 
ingstone's  "Travels  in  Africa."  That  vividly 
written  book  of  the  great  African  missionary  must 
have  sown  the  seed,  in  little  Theodore's  mind,  of 
an  eager  curiosity  to  see  the  land  of  lions  and 
elephants,  giraffes,  and  "rhinos." 

Jacob  Riis  is  responsible  for  one  little  fragment 
of  Rooseveltian  biography  which  illustrates  the 
child  Theodore's  daring  activity.  "A  woman  who 
lived  next  door  to  the  Roosevelts  in  East  Twen 
tieth  Street  told  me  that  once,  in  passing  the  house, 
she  saw  Theodore,  a  mere  child,  hanging  out  of  a 
second-story  window.  She  hurried  and  told  Mrs. 
Roosevelt,  who,  as  she  started  anxiously  to  catch 
the  venturesome  youngster,  remarked,  'If  the  Lord 
hadn't  taken  care  of  Theodore  he  would  have  been 
killed  long  ago.' ' 

The  most  significant  of  the  early  incidents  of 
Roosevelt's  life,  of  which  we  have  record,  was  the 


THE  BENDING  OF  THE  TWIG  7 

amusing  one  which  tells  of  his  protest  against  an 
undeserved  —  as  it  seemed  to  him  —  reprimand  by 
his  mother.  There  was  an  abundance  of  affection 
in  his  childish  heart  for  her,  as  in  her  heart  for  him. 
But  one  day  he  felt  himself  aggrieved  at  some 
action  of  hers  toward  him.  And  when  came  the 
time  for  him  to  say  his  evening  prayers,  he  be 
thought  him  of  her  sympathy  for  the  Confederate 
Cause  —  she  being  of  Southern  birth  —  and  he 
added  a  clause  to  his  formal  prayer.  He  prayed  for 
the  success  of  the  Union  arms.  He  even  particu 
larized.  He  prayed  that  God  "would  grind  them 
to  powder."  As  always,  no  halfway  measure. 

Luckily  his  beloved  mother  had  a  strong  sense 
of  humor,  which  he  inherited  in  full  measure,  and 
she  concealed  her  smiles  and  forbade  all  similar 
improvisations  in  the  future,  under  penalty  of 
being  reported  to  his  father,  —  "The  only  man 
whom  I  ever  feared,"  Roosevelt  declared  in  later 
life. 

That  incident  held  the  germ  of  one  of  Roose 
velt's  strongest  characteristics.  It  was  his  instinc 
tive  effort  to  strike  back  at  any  one  who  attacked 
him.  Submission  to  real  or  fancied  injustice  was 
not  in  his  nature.  In  his  sparring  contests  at 
college  and  in  all  the  contests  of  his  later  life,  his 
invariable  action  was  not  quiescence  or  endurance 
simply;  but  he  "came  back."  Like  a  steel  spring 


8         ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

he  recoiled  upon  all  who  struck  at  him.  Often  cir 
cumstances  did  not  permit  him  to  express  this 
desire.  Wisdom  or  tact  dictated  some  other  course. 
But  the  instinct,  the  strong  desire,  was  always 
there.  In  a  conversation,  during  the  latter  half  of 
his  life,  with  his  friend,  John  Leary,  Junior,  he 
said,  with  his  characteristic  vigor,  "Jack,  a  man 
has  no  more  right  to  forget  an  enemy  than  he  has 
to  forget  a  friend.  I've  always  tried  to  do 
something  for  everybody  who  ever  did  any 
thing  for  me."  Then  a  smile,  and,  "But  the 
regret  of  my  life  is  that  I  have  been  unable  to 
take  proper  care  of  all  my  enemies.  I've  had 
a  million  of  them  —  too  many  for  any  man  to 
attend  to  in  an  ordinary  lifetime." 

This  code  of  morality  was  more  after  the  Spar 
tan  or  Mosaic  order  than  the  Christian.  But,  in 
reviewing  any  man's  words  or  in  analyzing  his 
character,  we  need  to  remember  that  his  theories 
and  his  actions  often  do  not  coincide.  Sometimes 
the  man's  conduct  rises  far  above  his  theory.  This 
was  true  of  Roosevelt.  And  in  his  case  we  need 
also  to  remember  that  his  sense  of  humor,  his 
brilliant,  daring  spontaneity  of  speech  often  led 
him  to  say  things  which  he  by  no  means  meant  in 
their  full,  unmodified  form.  We  know,  without 
being  told,  that  this  delightful  outburst  of  his  con- 


THE  BENDING  OF  THE  TWIG  9 

cerning  his  enemies  was  followed  by  a  laugh, 
equally  delightful. 

Apropos,  in  passing,  of  Roosevelt's  keen  sense 
of  humor,  observable  through  his  mature  life,  I 
cite  two  incidents  given  by  the  Reverend  F.  C. 
Iglehart,  which  disclose  to  us  an  early  section  of 
that  thread  of  humor  which  was  woven  so  largely 
into  the  entire  fabric  of  his  life. 

The  growing  boy,  Roosevelt,  not  only  betook 
himself  early  to  books,  but  he  made  easy  contacts 
with  "all  sorts  and  conditions"  of  boys,  as  far  as 
opportunity  offered.  There,  for  instance,  was  the 
sturdy,  straightforward  nephew  of  the  village 
blacksmith  at  Dobbs  Ferry,  where  Theodore  spent 
a  summer.  They  were  playmates,  those  two,  and 
friends.  The  nephew,  a  year  older  than  Theodore, 
is  still  living  and  recounts  some  of  their  operations 
and  cooperations.  I  suspect  that  the  relationship 
was,  necessarily,  a  bit  more  feudal  than  democratic. 
But  it  gave  satisfaction  to  both. 

One  of  the  incidents  was  this.  The  two  boys 
were  playing  together  one  day,  on  a  pond  upon 
which  Theodore  had  a  skiff.  He  was  alone  in  the 
skiff  at  that  moment;  his  companion  sat  on  the 
bank.  Presently  two  of  Theodore's  grown-up 
friends  drove  by  in  a  carriage.  At  the  opportune 
instant  he  sprang  up  in  the  frail  craft,  tumbled 
about,  and  contrived  to  tip  the  craft  over,  splashing 


10       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

into  the  water,  quite  out  of  sight.  He  remained 
under  water  a  considerable  time,  to  the  delight  of 
his  watchful  playmate  but  to  the  alarm  of  the  de 
ceived  grown-ups. 

The  other  incident,  revealing  the  boy's  inherent 
drollery,  is  this.  It  was  the  custom  in  the  Roose 
velt  family  that  summer  for  the  senior  Theodore 
Roosevelt  to  be  driven  to  the  train  each  morning 
by  a  "coachman"  in  the  "depot  wagon."  Theodore, 
Junior,  frequently  accompanied  his  father.  One 
morning,  as  the  boy  returned  with  the  "coachman" 
to  the  house,  he  induced  the  man  to  allow  him  to 
don  the  coat  and  hat  which  made  up  his  "livery." 
Well  covered  up  in  these,  he  directed  his  playmate, 
the  blacksmith's  nephew,  to  sit  beside  him  on  the 
box.  The  playmate  demurred,  because  he  was 
wearing  "only  this  hickory  shirt  and  this  small 
straw  hat,  and  your  mother'll  know  me."  But 
Theodore  insisted,  wanting  the  boy  for  his  "foot 
man",  he  said;  and  he  drove  to  the  front  door. 
Then  he  called  out,  in  the  loudest  and  most  "grown 
up"  tones  he  could  summon,  "Is  Mrs.  Roosevelt 
in?"  The  puzzled  housemaid,  sweeping  the  porch, 
replied  confusedly  that  she  was  in.  "Then  tell 
her,"  enjoined  the  rollicking  youngster,  "to  come 
out  for  a  drive.  If  she  doesn't  come  now  she  can't 
have  a  drive  at  all  to-day."  Whereupon,  without 
waiting,  perceiving  that  the  climax  had  been 


THE  BENDING  OF  THE  TWIG  11 

reached,  the  amateur  coachman  drove  away  to  the 
stable. 

Only  homely  little  incidents,  these  two,  but 
prophetic  of  the  exceptionally  developed  sense  of 
humor  which  the  man  Theodore  Roosevelt  mani 
fested.  Every  man  flatters  himself  that  he  has  a 
"sense  of  humor."  And  most  men  have.  The 
others  we  pass  over  in  silent  pity.  The  mature 
Roosevelt  had  the  humor  sense  in  abundant  meas 
ure.  Indeed,  it  protected  him,  on  countless  occa 
sions,  from  the  deeper  pains  of  disappointment, 
anxiety,  and  futile  wrath.  As  he  stood,  a  champion 
of  truth  and  righteousness,  before  the  world 
through  many  years,  he  did  not  wear  the  full 
armor  described  by  the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  — 
helmet,  breastplate,  and  all  the  other  pieces  —  but 
he  bore  a  keen  sword  in  his  strong  right  hand  and 
a  polished  shield  upon  his  left  arm.  The  sword 
was  his  own  intrepid,  combat-loving  spirit,  and  the 
shield  was  his  unfailing  sense  of  humor,  which 
"quenched  the  darts  of  many  an  adversary." 


CHAPTER  II 

BULBS  AND   BLOSSOMS 

A  few  months  ago  I  went  down  into  my  cellar 
and  groped  about  there,  in  a  dim  light,  gathering 
several  kinds  of  bulbs.  These  I  planted  in  a  sunny 
spot  of  my  garden.  And  I  saw  them,  in  due  time, 
push  up  into  stems  and  stalks,  and  later  flower  out 
in  flaming  colors. 

That  dim  cellar,  with  its  undeveloped  yet  vital 
bulbs,  may  serve  as  an  illustration  of  Roosevelt's 
life,  during  the  period  of  his  childhood  and  early 
boyhood,  as  it  appears  to  me,  from  my  present 
viewpoint.  It  is  dim,  and  our  knowledge  of  its 
contents  is  derived  largely  from  Roosevelt's  own 
memories.  There  are  few  persons  living  to-day 
who  can  add  much  to  what  he  recollected.  When 
he  came  to  Harvard,  he  came  out  into  the  light. 
He  began,  in  1876,  that  group-life  which  was  to 
continue,  enlarging  continuously,  through  his  en 
tire  career.  Many  of  his  college  classmates  are 
living  to-day  and  can  build  up  a  considerable  body 
of  information  about  him  from  their  recollections. 

The  interesting   objective   which   I   set  before 


BULBS  AND  BLOSSOMS  13 

myself  at  this  point  is  —  to  bring  up  out  of  that 
dim  early  period,  like  bulbs  from  their  shadowy 
seclusion,  the  germs  of  those  qualities  in  him  which 
later  flowered  forth  in  luxuriance,  before  the  eyes 
of  the  world.  And  I  feel  inclined,  at  this  stage, 
to  recur  to  those  two  striking  qualities  to  which 
my  first  chapter  adverted,  —  the  quality  of  humor, 
or  mirthfulness,  and  the  quality  of  combativeness, 
typified  by  a  shield  and  a  sword. 

Roosevelt's  sense  of  humor  has  more  psycholog 
ical  value  to  the  analyst  than  might  casually  be 
supposed.  It  shows  plainly,  even  in  his  own  auto 
biographical  narration  of  certain  incidents  in  his 
boyhood.  For  example,  there  is  delightful  humor 
in  his  reference  to  his  zealous  efforts  in  the  field  of 
taxidermy.  "Doubtless  the  family  had  their  mo 
ments  of  anxiety  and  suffering  —  especially  when 
a  well-meaning  maid  extracted  from  my  taxi 
dermist's  outfit  the  old  toothbrush  with  which  I 
had  put  on  the  skins  the  arsenical  soap  necessary 
for  their  preservation,  partially  washed  it,  and  then 
put  it  back  with  the  rest  of  my  wash-kit,  for  my 
personal  use." 

Again,  during  his  first  journey  abroad,  he  spent 
a  summer  in  a  German  family  in  Dresden.  As  in 
his  American  home,  he  was  active  in  his  "nature 
studies."  And  he  records  that,  "Whenever  I  could 
get  out  into  the  country,  I  collected  specimens  in- 


14      ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

dustriously,  and  enlivened  the  household  with 
hedgehogs  and  other  small  beasts  and  reptiles 
which  persisted  in  escaping  from  partially  closed 
bureau  drawers." 

During  his  stay  at  Dobbs  Ferry,  he  became  the 
possessor  of  a  "breech-loading  pin-fire  double- 
barreled  gun."  "It  was  an  excellent  gun  for  a 
clumsy  and  often  absent-minded  boy,"  he  says. 
"There  was  a  spring  to  open  it;  and,  if  the  mechan 
ism  became  rusty,  it  could  be  opened  with  a  brick 
without  serious  damage.  When  the  cartridges 
stuck  they  could  be  removed  in  the  same  fashion." 

We  may  be  sure  that  when  he  wrote  that,  forty 
years  afterwards,  his  face  wore  that  same  fascinat 
ing  smile  which  became  famous  the  world  over. 
And,  apropos  of  that  smile,  it  may  be  told  that  he 
was  never  seen  to  laugh  more  delightedly  than 
when,  during  a  poltical  campaign,  he  read  the 
"story"  of  a  reporter  who  described  him,  when  he 
pressed  his  way  to  the  platform,  as  "biting  his 
way  through  the  crowd." 

Again  I  recur  to  the  closing  words  of  the  previ 
ous  chapter  and  to  the  sword  in  his  hand,  symbol 
of  the  valor  of  his  spirit.  That  actual  love  of 
righteous  combat,  mental  or  physical,  was  one  of 
his  greatest  assets  as  a  reformer  and  a  public  offi 
cial.  That  characteristic  has  been  noted  by  thou 
sands,  and  it  was  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Taft  in  his 


BULBS  AND  BLOSSOMS  15 

noble,  tender  eulogy  of  Roosevelt,  after  the  latter's 
death.  And  a  letter  which  has  come  to  me,  as  I 
write,  from  a  classmate,  contains  this  statement: 
"I  met  Roosevelt  in  New  York  one  day,  just  after 
he  had  been  appointed  to  be  Assistant  Secretary 
of  the  Navy.  I  congratulated  him,  and  suggested 
that  he  would  now  live  a  quiet,  pleasanter  life  than 
had  been  his  as  Police  Commissioner.  But  he  re 
plied,  shaking  his  head  doubtfully,  'I  don't  know 
about  that.  I  like  a  fight.  I  do  like  a  fight.' " 
And  he  did.  But  let  it  be  noted  that  he  liked  it 
only  when  it  was  rooted  in  a  righteous  motive. 

That  aggressive  quality  in  Roosevelt  first  comes 
to  light  in  the  fist-fight  which  he,  as  a  boy,  pre 
cipitated  with  two  traveling  companions  of  his  own 
age.  He  was  on  his  way  to  Moosehead  Lake,  in 
Maine,  sent  there  with  the  parental  hope  that  its 
outdoor  life  would  strengthen  him  and  help  him 
throw  off  the  asthma  by  which  he  was  beset  and 
tortured  through  several  of  his  earlier  years.  Not 
only  was  he  asthmatic,  but  he  was  frail  and 
physically  below  the  average  of  boys  of  his  age. 
But  in  spirit  he  was  unsurpassed.  And  when  his 
youthful  fellow  travelers  made  fun  of  him,  he 
attacked  them.  "But  either  of  them,  singly,  could 
handle  me  with  easy  contempt,"  he  records. 

This  discomforting  experience  was  a  turning 
point  in  his  life.  He  faced  the  fact  of  his  inferiority 


16      ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

in  physical  strength,  and  —  true  to  the  rare  elastic 
ity  of  his  nature  —  he  reacted  upon  it  and  set 
about  correcting  his  defects.  His  parents  and  all 
his  older  friends  had  realized  his  bodily  disability 
before  he  did.  And  all  the  world  now  looks  back 
upon  his  weak,  suffering  childhood  with  pity  and 
wonder,  —  pity  for  him  as  he  seemed  so  poorly 
equipped  for  the  struggle  of  life,  and  wonder  that 
he  so  transformed  his  weakness  into  strength. 

He  accomplished  this  by  the  persistent  exercise 
of  his  most  unique  gift,  —  an  indomitable  will. 
Other  qualities  he  had  which  counted  in  his  mastery 
of  life,  but  his  will  was  marvelous,  almost  miracu 
lous.  If  he  had  been  born  two  thousand  years  or 
more  ago,  in  Greece,  in  Sparta,  his  infant  fate 
would  have  been  to  be  exposed  to  lingering  death 
on  Mount  Tagytus,  with  other  Spartan  defectives. 
His  capacity  for  survival  and  helpful  citizenship 
would  have  been  considered  slender  and  negligible. 
But  the  record  of  his  sheltered  early  life  not  only 
suggests  the  high  distance  which  the  human  race 
has  come,  as  indicated  by  its  care  for  the  weak  and 
helpless  members  of  society,  but  it  proclaims  also 
the  miracle  which  an  indomitable  human  spirit  can 
accomplish,  in  its  mastery  of  its  body. 

His  father,  always  wise  and  sympathetic,  en 
couraged  the  boy  to  enter  into  such  sports  and 
pastimes  as  would  develop  such  slender  physical 


BULBS  AND  BLOSSOMS  17 

powers  as  he  had.  And  the  walking,  sparring, 
riding,  rowing,  and  other  sports  which  he  took  up 
he  continued  throughout  his  life.  That  near- 
sightedness  which  was  so  evident  during  his  entire 
career  became  known  to  him  when  he  was  thirteen 
years  of  age.  Before  that  time,  like  most  children 
similarly  handicapped,  he  had  not  realized  —  nor 
had  his  relatives  and  friends  —  his  defects  of  sight. 
But  spectacles  for  his  eyes  were  promptly  pro 
vided,  and  a  new  world  stood  revealed  before  him. 

Many  people  have  expressed  surprise  that  with 
his  poor  eyesight  he  could  yet  attain  such  profi 
ciency  in  "nature  study."  But  the  spectacles 
largely  remedied  his  visual  defects ;  and,  mentally, 
he  was  keenly  observant.  Then,  too,  his  hearing 
was  always  acute,  and  this  was  a  great  asset  in  his 
study  of  birds;  he  caught  their  calls  and  songs 
usually  before  he  identified  their  plumage  and 
movements. 

One  point  may  here  be  noted,  as  we  recall  the 
several  kinds  of  pastimes  which  he  entered  into  as 
a  boy.  These  were  the  rowing  and  sailing  on  the 
waters  of  Long  Island  Sound.  Most  boys  are 
eager  for  boats,  but  most  boys  pass  on  from  row- 
boats  to  sailboats.  They  soon  prefer  the  latter 
kind.  But  Roosevelt  was  unique  in  that  he  always 
preferred  rowing  to  sailing.  And  just  here,  in  this 
preference,  we  discover  one  of  his  striking  char- 


18       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

acteristics.  Evidently  he  preferred  the  rowing 
because  it  gave  him  something  to  do.  He  was 
incessantly  active.  And,  naturally,  he  preferred 
using  his  strength  on  the  oars  to  sitting  listlessly 
at  a  tiller  or  a  wheel. 

This  stage  of  our  survey  may  properly  be  the 
one  where  attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  Roose 
velt  was  essentially  a  "self -made"  man.  That  term 
has  been  applied  to  many  men,  especially  in  this 
land  of  comparatively  free  development  and  un 
restricted  opportunity.  But,  usually,  if  those 
men's  careers  are  closely  examined,  it  will  be  found 
that  their  advance,  their  "rise,"  has  been  brought 
about  more  by  their  alteration  of  their  environment 
and  by  their  seizing  opportunities,  than  by  their 
conscious  alteration  of  their  own  characters. 

Thus,  strictly  speaking,  they  have  not  been  self- 
made,  or  remade,  in  any  marked  degree.  But,  in 
Roosevelt's  case,  there  was  a  conscious,  determined 
remaking  of  his  mental  qualities.  He  was  by 
nature  shy  and  self -distrustful,  but  in  his  mature 
and  public  life  —  let  me  say,  with  a  smile  —  those 
qualities  were  never  attributed  to  him.  He  elimi 
nated  them.  And  by  nature  he  was  timid.  He 
records  this,  with  all  frankness,  of  himself.  But 
he  also  records  his  method  of  correcting  that  de 
fect.  He  says,  "I  read  a  passage,  in  one  of  the 
novelist  Marryat's  books,  wher.e  the  hero  explains 


BULBS  AND  BLOSSOMS  19 

how  to  acquire  the  quality  of  fearlessness.  'A  man 
should  keep  such  a  grip  on  himself  that  he  can  act 
as  if  he  were  unafraid.  And,  in  time,  he  will  be 
come  unafraid.' ' 

This,  analyzed,  is  of  course  "Will."  And  this 
was  possessed  by  Roosevelt  in  an  exceptional  meas 
ure.  He  put  it  forth  upon  his  emotional  nature, 
and  he  became  fearless,  —  physically,  mentally,  and 
morally.  This  was  done  consciously.  He  tells  us, 
"I  trained  myself  painfully  and  laboriously,  not 
only  as  regards  my  body  but  as  regards  my  soul 
and  spirit." 

Roosevelt's  will,  recognized  by  him  and  de 
veloped  by  him,  simply  supplemented  and  directed 
a  natural  activity  which  was  his  always,  even  back 
in  those  pinafore  days  when  he  made  a  somewhat 
mordant  attack  upon  his  child-sister,  and  was  duly 
chastised,  after  pursuit  and  capture  by  his  inexor 
able  father.  He  was  easily  the  leader  in  all  games 
among  his  young  relatives.  He  started  the  family 
"Museum  of  Natural  History."  He  was  not  con 
tent  to  observe  and  wonder  and  feel  delight  at  the 
novel  objects  which  he  found  about  him.  He  was 
enterprising,  resourceful,  original.  And  the  "Mu 
seum"  resulted. 

Although  the  boy  Theodore's  most  pronounced 
intellectual  bent  was  toward  natural  science,  other 
studies  had  not  been  neglected.  His  feeble 


20       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

physique,  through  his  earliest  years,  made  of  him 
a  "home  boy",  and  he  was  not  put  through  the 
usual  public-school  course  of  instruction.  But  his 
Aunt  Anna,  as  a  member  of  the  household,  guided 
him  through  the  intricacies  of  "the  three  R's",  and 
at  one  time  a  French  governess  lived  with  the 
family.  This  first-hand  instruction  in  French 
gave  the  boy  a  familiarity  with  the  language  which 
he  retained  throughout  his  life. 

The  earlier  of  the  two  trips  abroad  which  he 
made  as  a  boy  appears,  on  his  own  statement,  to 
have  given  him  but  little.  At  ten  years  of  age,  a 
boy  cannot  get  much  more  in  Europe  than  in  the 
United  States.  The  charms  of  its  history  and  art 
elude  him.  But,  four  years  later,  in  the  winter  of 
1872  and  1873,  he  sailed  again,  with  his  family, 
across  the  Atlantic.  And  on  this  trip  he  went  as 
far  as  Egypt.  His  general  reading  had  prepared 
him  for  the  picturesque  remains  of  the  Nile's 
ancient  cities,  and  he  greatly  enjoyed  what  he  saw. 
Yet  it  must  be  noted  that  even  on  this  journey, 
as  on  the  first  one,  the  naturalist  spirit  dominated. 
On  the  Nile  he  was  above  all  else  a  collector  of 
birds.  Indeed,  before  the  party  had  set  forth  from 
their  native  land,  Theodore  had  provided  himself 
with  a  supply  of  pink-colored  "Roosevelt  Museum 
labels"  for  use  on  this  "adventurous  trip",  as  it 
seemed  to  him. 


BULBS  AND  BLOSSOMS  21 

As  we  range  about,  through  this  dim  pre-col- 
legiate  life  of  our  great  American,  finding  in  his 
recorded  words  and  acts  the  germs  of  the  great 
deeds  which  characterized  him  later,  we  ask  again 
and  again,  "But  what  was  the  one  dominant  quality 
in  him  which  gave  him  the  greatness  which  the 
world  now  ascribes  to  him?" 

We  can  pick  out  several  without  which  he  could 
not  have  achieved  what  he  did.  Yet,  back  of  all 
the  others,  the  one  factor  which  most  arrests  our 
attention  is  the  dynamic  factor,  the  energy,  which 
seemed  never  to  tire  and  drove  him  to  express  him 
self  in  scores  of  ways,  joining  now  with  one  group 
of  faculties  and  now  with  another,  so  that  not  only 
was  "No  human  endeavor  outside  his  range  of 
interest",  as  the  ancient  phrase  put  it,  but  there 
was  hardly  one  which  he  did  not  actually  seek  and 
eagerly  pursue  and  in  it  attain  excellence.  The 
driving  power  in  this  phenomenal  man  combined 
chemically  with  all  his  varied  faculties  and  interests 
and  made  them  function  with  rare  vigor. 

This  was  the  same  element  which  figured  in  his 
remaking  of  himself,  physically  and  spiritually. 
When  Pandora,  in  the  ancient  legend,  looked  into 
her  box  of  gifts,  bestowed  by  the  gods,  she  found 
that  all  the  gifts  had  escaped,  save  hope  only. 
When  the  sickly  child  Theodore  examined  his  gift- 


22       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

box,  he  found  that  almost  his  only  valuable  pos 
session  was  his  will.  Straightway,  with  that  he 
began  to  remake  his  life,  corporeal  and  spiritual. 
And,  as  it  transpired  afterward,  he  did  much  to 
remake,  to  help  reform  his  beloved  country.  Dis 
covering  that  dauntless  will  within  his  breast,  he 
found  what  Archimedes  vainly  sought,  —  a  fulcrum 
by  which  his  native  land  and  even  the  entire  world 
might  be  moved,  and  moved  forward. 

This  dynamic  element  in  Roosevelt  was  what 
John  Morley  sensed  when  he  said,  in  England, 
after  visiting  the  United  States:  "I  saw  there  two 
things  which  were  extraordinary  —  Niagara  Falls 
and  Theodore  Roosevelt."^  Yes,  and  was  it  not 
Power  which  he  saw  in  both  ?  Was  it  not  what  was 
detected  in  Napoleon  Bonaparte  by  that  member 
of  the  Directory,  in  1799,  who  said  to  a  fellow 
member,  as  Bonaparte,  a  new  man,  entered  the 
assembly  hall  and  looked  about  him,  "I  think  that 
in  him  we  have  found  our  master"? 

The  dynamic  element  in  both  Bonaparte  and 
Roosevelt  was  strikingly  similar.  But  in  other 
essential  qualities  they  differed  widely.  The 
Corsican  brigand  looked  out  upon  the  world  as  an 
arena  where  he  might  exalt  himself  by  ruthless 
victories.  The  American  patriot  —  whose  plans 
rarely  ranged  beyond  the  borders  of  his  native 


BULBS  AND  BLOSSOMS  23 

land  —  looked  forth  over  that  beloved  land  as  his 
"world",  and  in  the  words  of  King  Arthur  of  the 
Round  Table,  he  "longed  for  power  on  that  dark 
world  to  lighten  it,  and  power  on  that  dead  world 
to  make  it  live.3" 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  CLASS  OF  '80 

Almost  any  graduate  of  almost  any  class  of 
almost  any  college  or  university  in  the  United 
States  will  tell  you,  in  confidence,  that  his  class 
was  "The  famous  class  of ",  or  "The  well- 
known  class  of ",  and  then  the  year  is  named. 

Now  and  then  some  daring  graduate  breaks 
through  the  commonplace  and  declares  that  his 
class  was  remarkable  for  not  being  remarkable. 

We  of  the  Harvard  Class  of  eighteen  hundred 
and  eighty  feel,  however,  that  we  need  not  resort 
to  this  tour  de  force,  but  may  say  proudly  —  yet 
quietly  and  modestly,  as  is  becoming  in  those  who 
but  reflect  glory  —  that  we  are  indeed  of  "the  fa 
mous  class  of  '80."  And  our  class  is  famous 
largely  because  Theodore  Roosevelt  entered  it,  in 
1876,  and  graduated  with  it. 

When  he  came  to  Harvard,  and  while  he  re 
mained  there,  his  life  was  of  one  piece  with  his 
previous  life.  It  was  no  fault  of  his  that  he  had 
been  born  into  a  family  that  was  characterized  by 
all  the  conventions  and  customs  of  thinking  and 


ROOSEVELT'S  HOME  WHILE  AT  HARVARD;   UPPER  FLOOR. 


ELL    OF    HOUSE    AT    CAMBRIDGE    WHERE    DINING-CLUB    MET. 


THE  CLASS  OF  '80  25 

acting  which,  the  world  over,  mark  what  are  called 
"the  best  people."  When  he  came  to  Harvard,  he 
continued  to  live,  as  far  as  was  possible  in  his  new 
environment,  according  to  his  previous  practice. 
When  he  drove  about  over  Cambridge  in  his  dog 
cart  —  a  unique  vehicle  and  much  noticed  —  he  did 
it  as  naturally  as  he  had  done  it  previously  at  home. 

He  was  exceptionally  and  intensely  individual. 
Later  he  became  much  more  consciously  com 
munal,  social.  His  choice  of  rooms  in  a  private 
house  at  Number  16  (now  Number  38)  Winthrop 
Street,  Cambridge,  instead  of  rooms  in  a  college 
dormitory,  and  his  retention  of  that  domicile 
throughout  his  college  course  was  an  unconscious 
expression  of  his  instinctive  individualism.  He 
wished  independence.  Then,  too,  he  was  much 
absorbed  at  that  date  in  the  idea  of  making  natural 
history  the  pursuit  of  his  life.  And  he  desired 
greater  freedom  in  his  collecting  of  "specimens" 
than  probably  would  be  allowed  him  in  a  college 
dormitory. 

From  the  first  he  was  a  striking  figure  among 
his  college  mates.  I  have  already  mentioned  my 
own  first  sight  of  him,  as  he  argued  vehemently 
with  two  friends  in  the  transept  of  Memorial  Hall. 
To  the  casual  observer  he  was  noticeable  because 
of  his  side  whiskers  —  quite  uncommon  among  his 
fellow  collegians  —  and  his  quick  abrupt  ways.  To 


26       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

those  persons  who  knew  him  more  closely  he  wras 
always  a  surprising  personality.  He  was  different 
from  most  or  all  other  undergraduates,  yet  there 
was  no  pose  about  him ;  he  was  entirely  simple  and 
considerably  self-absorbed. 

Any  one  who  entered  his  study  at  Number  16 
Winthrop  Street  found  there  an  apartment  differ 
ent  essentially  from  all  other  students'  rooms.  It 
reflected  his  own  personality  and  past.  It  was 
decorated  not  only  with  the  usual  pictures  and 
bookcases  which  would  be  expected  in  a  lad  of  his 
training  and  background  of  home  life,  but  it  con 
tained  several  stuffed  birds  and  beasts  and  a  few 
mounted  antlers,  —  fruits  of  his  own  prowess  in 
hunting  and  his  skill  as  a  taxidermist. 

Seeking,  as  I  am  doing,  for  indications  of  his 
unfolding  character,  at  this  college  period,  as  in 
earlier  periods,  I  find  significant  testimony  to  his 
remarkable  self-reliance  and  independence  of  the 
opinions  and  actions  of  his  companions.  This 
quality  was  evinced  even  in  his  face,  as  I  recall  it, 
and  now  shows  in  his  photograph.  Take  that 
photograph  of  him  as  he  appeared  at  his  time  of 
graduation.  It  is  easy,  and  pseudo-scientific,  to 
read  into  a  man's  cranial  or  facial  formation,  shown 
by  his  photograph,  his  mental  characteristics, — • 
after  one  has  become  familiar  with  them.  Never 
theless,  the  photograph  of  Hoosevelt's  face  when 


THE  CLASS  OF  '80  27 

a  student  at  Harvard  shows,  to  any  impartial  ob 
server,  at  least  two  qualities.  First,  his  eyes,  which 
are  open,  frank,  and  fearless,  manifest  plainly  that 
sincerity  of  nature  which  was  always  his.  Later 
photographs  of  him  show  those  frank,  ingenuous 
eyes  closing  more  and  more  —  as  do  the  eyes  of 
most  men  who  go  out  into  the  competitions  of  life 
—for  they  are  learning,  by  stern  experience,  to 
conceal  their  own  purposes  and  to  discern  the  pur 
poses  of  some  rival  or  opponent.  But,  essentially, 
all  through  his  life,  and  especially  in  his  college 
days,  he  loved  what  was  real  and  true,  and  he 
always  declared  for  it. 

This  sometimes  made  him  the  butt  of  waggish 
friends.  For  naturally  he  took  men  at  their  own 
word;  and  it  was  easy  for  a  frivolous,  facetious 
companion  to  start  him,  by  some  statement,  into 
a  heated  discussion.  At  the  meetings  of  the 
Hasty  Pudding  Club,  on  several  occasions, 
he  was  lured  by  some  cooler  member  into 
debate  for  exhibition  purposes.  And  his  eager 
contention  for  his  side  of  the  question  increased 
a  natural  hesitancy  of  speech  in  him,  and 
his  stumbling,  stammering  words  brought  his 
listeners  to  laughter.  William  Roscoe  Thayer,  in 
his  admirable  volume  on  Roosevelt,  testifies  to  his 
tumultuous  and  sometimes  inarticulate  speech. 
Mr.  Thayer  refers  to  a  dinner  given  in  1879  by 


28       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

the  Harvard  Crimson,  to  which  Roosevelt  was  in 
vited  as  a  representative  of  the  Harvard  Advocate. 
In  his  brief  address  on  that  occasion,  Roosevelt 
showed  great  shyness  and  hurried  over  his  sentences 
"as  skaters  hurry  over  thin  ice."  And  he  must 
have  been  fully  aware  of  these,  his  defects  of  public 
speech,  for  he  told  at  this  dinner  the  anecdote  (Mr. 
Thayer  narrates)  about  a  stammering  man  recom 
mending —  with  many  grimaces  and  gaspings- 
the  doctor  who  had  cured  him. 

All  this  immaturity  of  speech  was  surmounted 
by  Roosevelt  later,  and  he  became  a  most  interest 
ing  and  convincing  campaign  speaker,  although 
never  an  eloquent  speaker,  as  the  word  is  usually 
defined. 

Again,  as  to  his  college  photograph.  That 
strong,  defiant  chin  ought  to  tell  any  acute  observer 
the  story  of  Roosevelt's  dogged  determination,  his 
rare  power  of  concentration,  his  lifelong  surmount 
ing  of  defects  within  and  obstacles  without.  The 
chin  alone  did  not  bring  his  success.  Other  de 
termined  chins  there  have  been.  But  his  had  an 
exceptional  brain  behind  it.  And,  in  combination, 
it  was  a  large  factor  in  the  achievements  of  Roose 
velt's  strenuous  life. 

Let  us  look,  now,  at  two  or  three  of  the  recorded 
incidents  of  his  college  life.  They  are  not  only 
interesting  in  themselves,  but  to  me,  as  I  keep  in 


THE  CLASS  OF  '80  29 

mind  my  psychological  objective,  they  are  dis 
tinctly  illuminating  as  to  Roosevelt's  character. 

Back  of  his  domicile  on  Winthrop  Street  was  a 
stable.  One  night  two  students,  who  occupied 
rooms  in  the  same  house  with  Roosevelt,  heard 
neighs  and  screams  from  a  horse  in  that  stable. 
And  they  conferred  sleepily  together  as  to  the 
advisability  of  looking  into  the  matter.  Finally, 
after  several  minutes  had  elapsed  and  the  cries  did 
not  cease,  they  arose  reluctantly,  threw  on  some 
garments,  and  went  out  of  the  house  and  across  the 
alley,  to  investigate. 

They  found  the  stable  door  open.  And  they 
found  Theodore  Roosevelt  already  on  the  spot, 
trying  to  get  the  frightened  horse  out  of  his  trouble. 
The  animal  had  put  his  leg  through  a  hole  in  the 
side  of  the  stall.  Roosevelt  had  heard  the  outcries 
and  straightway  had  climbed  down  from  his  sec 
ond-story  room  and  had  rendered  "first  aid."  The 
point  of  real  interest  is  —  not  only  his  sympathy 
with  the  horse  —  but  his  taking  hold  of  the  situation 
promptly  and  unaided.  And  that  was  always  his 
self-reliant,  independent  way.  Little  mattered  it 
to  him,  throughout  his  life,  what  others  did  or 
thought  about  a  worthy  cause  or  a  pressing  public 
need.  He  went  at  the  matter  himself. 

The  same  instinct  for  independent  self-assertion 
was  evinced  when  he  marched  in  the  Republican 


30       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

campaign  procession,  through  Boston  streets,  one 
torch-lit  evening,  soon  after  we  entered  college. 
At  one  point  along  the  route,  sundry  ribald  fellows, 
on  an  adjacent  roof,  contributed  not  only  defama 
tory  epithets  to  the  line  of  ardent  young  Repub 
licans  below,  but  made  unpleasant  contributions  of 
various  noxious  articles.  Their  actions  drew 
angry  protests  from  their  helpless  victims.  But  it 
is  told  that  on  that  adventurous  night,  young 
Roosevelt  —  "Teddy"  then  called  —  became  known 
to  many  of  his  classmates  by  stepping  out  of  the 
ranks,  shaking  his  fist  at  the  craven  crew  on  the 
roof,  and  crying  to  his  companions,  "Come,  fellows! 
Let's  go  up  and  smash  those  blackguards.  Let's 
kill  'em!" 

Whether  literally  true  or  a  trifle  apocryphal, 
this  incident  offers  me  so  good  a  suggestion  that  I 
risk  using  it.  It  shows  the  reacting  spirit  of  the 
young  Freshman.  He  was  not  content  to  endure, 
like  his  companions,  without  retaliation.  He  was 
eager  to  get  back  at  the  rowdies,  storm  them  in 
their  stronghold,  and  take  vengeance  on  them  for 
their  unfair  attack. 

When  our  "Class  of  '80"  entered  college,  the 
four  classes  made  a  total  of  about  eight  hundred 
students.  In  some  ways  so  small  an  undergraduate 
body  offered  advantages  now  impossible.  But 
then  as  now,  the  problem  regarding  each  man  who 


THE  CLASS  OF  >80  31 

entered  was,  "How  much  of  the  two  main  branches 
of  education  will  he  lay  hold  of  ?"  There  was  and 
is,  on  the  one  hand,  the  education  which  comes  from 
an  accumulation  of  facts,  an  acquisition  of  knowl 
edge.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  the  education 
which  means  development  of  the  man's  capacity 
and  powers. 

The  striking  conviction  which  is  forced  upon  us, 
in  Roosevelt's  case,  from  our  observation  of  him  — 
and  from  what  he  observed  in  himself,  in  retrospect 
— -is  that  he  did  not  alter  essentially  in  character 
and  power  in  college,  and  that  the  chief  part  of  his 
accumulation  of  facts  came  through  his  own  private 
reading,  as  often  outside  his  prescribed  courses  as 
within  them.  But  that  he  did  good  work  in  his 
prescribed  and  elected  subjects  is  shown  by  his 
record,  which  tells  us  that  he  graduated  in  the 
upper  eighth  of  his  class,  he  was  made  a  member 
of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  and  he  received  "honorable 
mention"  in  Natural  History. 

When  he  entered  college,  bringing  with  him  the 
habits  and  tastes  of  his  past,  he  purposed  giving 
himself  to  a  lifelong  study  of  natural  history.  The 
"Museum"  of  his  childhood  had  expressed  a  vital 
interest  and  enthusiasm  of  his  nature.  But  he  was 
soon  deflected  from  his  purpose  by  the  bookish, 
theoretical,  laboratory  methods  then  in  vogue  at 
Harvard,  —  as  at  most  other  colleges.  He  was 


32       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

eager  to  get  out  among  the  living  birds  and  beasts, 
and  he  was  bored  by  the  requirements  of  micro 
scopic  and  anatomical  investigation. 

This  eager  desire  of  his  to  get  at  the  living 
realities  of  "natural  history"  is  the  more  note 
worthy  when  we  remember  that  he  was  no  stranger 
to  the  printed  page.  He  was  already  an  omnivor 
ous  reader.  But  he  saw  that  while  some  things 
could  be  learned  only  through  books,  other  things 

—  as  the  best  and  most  real  things  in  natural  his 
tory  —  should  be  learned  at  first  hand.     Still  this 
was  not  so  much  a  defect  of  the  college  curriculum 
as  it  was  a  necessary  evil.     Obviously  Harvard 
could  not  send  all  her  ardent  young  naturalists  to 
the  four  corners  of  the  earth  to  study  birds  and 
beasts  in  their  natural  environment.     This  kind 
of  study  Roosevelt  really  pursued  later,  by  his 
travels  and  explorations. 

The  new  life  of  college  opened  up  to  Roosevelt, 
as  to  every  college  student,  social,  intellectual  and 

—  not  least,  in  his  case  —  physical  development. 
When  our  class  entered  in  1876  our  men  began 
with  zeal  to  exercise  at  the  chest  weights  and  other 
apparatus.    But  in  a  month  many  of  them  flagged 
and  came  no  more.    Not  so  Roosevelt.    Through 
out  his  college  life,  as  through  all  his  later  life,  he 
gave  constant  attention  to  athletic  exercise.    And 
he  did  it,  as  he  did  so  many  other  things,  with  the 


THE  CLASS  OF  '80  33 

deliberate  intention  of  building  up  his  physical 
strength,  which  he  knew  to  be  the  basis  of  all  other 
efforts  which  he  might  wish  to  put  forth. 

Doctor  Dudley  A.  Sargent,  at  that  time  in 
charge  of  the  gymnasium  and  the  physical  culture 
of  the  students,  gave  us  all  a  minute  scientific  ex 
amination.  I  quote  briefly  from  his  report,  kindly 
loaned  me  by  him: 

"Theodore  Roosevelt  was  examined  in  Cam 
bridge  in  March,  1880,  when  he  was  twenty-one 
years  and  five  months  old.  At  this  time,  he  weighed 
136  pounds.  His  total  stretch  of  arms,  which 
would  also  include  the  breadth  of  his  shoulders, 
was  less  than  his  total  height;  which  is  seldom  the 
case  in  fully  developed  men.  Notwithstanding  his 
rather  small  frame  and  mediocre  muscular  devel 
opment,  his  total  strength  test  was  only  surpassed 
by  five  per  cent,  of  those  in  college  at  this  time. 
His  superior  strength  was  largely  due  to  the 
mechanical  advantage  he  gained  by  his  short  arms. 
But  he  must  have  felt  himself  severely  handicapped 
for  boxing,  rowing,  and  other  forms  of  athletics, 
by  his  very  short  arms.  In  looking  over  the 
gymnasium  record  of  this  remarkable  young  man, 
we  find  the  only  physical  measurements  in  which 
he  surpassed  his  classmates  were  in  the  girth  of 
his  head  and  neck.  All  his  muscle  measurements 
were  below  the  average,  those  of  his  legs  especially 


34       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

so.  As  soon  as  I  pointed  out  his  strong  points  as 
well  as  his  physical  weaknesses,  he  got  busy.  He 
realized  that  during  the  formative  period  of  his 
youth,  when  other  boys  were  developing  their  arms, 
chest  and  legs  in  doing  gymnastic  stunts  and  pur 
suing  athletic  exercises,  he  had  been  bent  over  his 
books,  cramming  his  brain  with  all  sorts  of  miscel 
laneous  information.  He  told  me  that  he  did  some 
work  in  a  gymnasium  before  coming  to  college,  and 
in  this  way  developed  the  strength  of  arms  and 
chest  shown  in  his  strength  test. 

"Roosevelt  seemed  to  realize  the  fundamental 
truth  that  what  one  gets  out  of  any  physical  effort 
depends  largely  upon  the  strength  and  energy  he 
puts  into  it  -  -  for  he  threw  himself  into  his  body 
building  work,  the  short  time  he  remained  in  col 
lege,  with  the  greatest  interest  and  enthusiasm.  I 
regret  very  much  that  I  never  had  an  opportunity 
to  examine  Mr.  Roosevelt  later  in  his  life.  That 
he  should  have  been  able  apparently  to  add  so 
much  to  his  physical  vigor  and  powers  of  endur 
ance,  after  leaving  college,  so  as  to  have  been  re 
garded  by  many  people  as  a  'human  dynamo',  —  is 
a  remarkable  occurrence,  considering  his  poor 
physical  foundation  in  his  youth.  Roosevelt's  life 
history  furnishes  one  of  the  best  illustrations  with 
which  I  am  acquainted,  of  what  may  be  done  in 
middle  life  by  a  fixed  determination  and  a  resolute 


THE  CLASS  OF  '80  35 

will  to  overcome  youthful  physical  defects  and 
deficiencies." 

When  Doctor  Sargent  gave  Roosevelt  his 
physical  examination  he  made  some  jesting  remark 
about  the  young  man's  slight  development  in  the 
legs.  That  remark  was  enough  to  start  Roosevelt 
on  an  attempt  to  remedy  the  defect.  "But  what 
shall  I  do  to  develop  them?"  he  asked.  And  Doc 
tor  Sargent  replied  lightly,  "Oh,  I  suppose  you 
might  take  to  skipping  rope,  like  the  girls." 

Enough  said.  Roosevelt  straightway  procured 
a  skipping  rope,  and  on  many  an  afternoon  he 
might  have  been  seen  upon  the  piazza  at  Number 
16  Winthrop  Street,  vigorously  using  it  as  sug 
gested.  His  original  method  at  first  caused 
amused  comment  on  the  part  of  his  friends.  But 
that  sort  of  thing  never  troubled  him.  Tempera 
mentally,  he  was  always  indifferent  to  it,  although 
later  in  his  life  he  learned  —  as  he  learned  so  many 
things,  out  in  the  competitive  world  —  the  value 
and  power  of  public  opinion.  The  next  step  came 
when  several  of  his  friends  took  up  the  same  exer 
cise,  showing  that  he  already  had  influence  among 
these  friends. 

The  same  rational  purpose  lay  back  of  all  his 
sports.  He  never  cared  for  the  usual  college 
games,  football,  baseball,  and  the  rest.  But  he 
continued  in  Cambridge  the  interest  in  boxing 


36      ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

which  had  been  aroused  in  him  as  a  boy  at  Oyster 
Bay.  The  boxing  undoubtedly  gave  him,  value 
for  value,  more  returns  of  exercise  and  strength 
than  almost  any  other  form  of  exercise  could  have 
given.  Then,  too,  it  gratified  that  joyous  sense 
of  personal  combat  which  was  always  strong  in  him 
from  infancy  to  age. 

Those  who  boxed  or  sparred  with  Roosevelt,  in 
public  or  in  private,  have  told  me  warmly  of  his 
marked  adherence  to  fair  play.  This  was  the 
"square  deal"  in  its  infancy.  And  there  is  record 
of  one  famous  bout  in  which  he  took  part,  where 
his  antagonist  struck  him  and  drew  blood,  after 
the  referee  had  ordered  a  halt.  The  indignant 
spectators  broke  into  a  noisy  protest  against  his 
antagonist.  "Foul  blow!  Foul  blow!"  they  cried. 
But  Roosevelt,  wiping  his  bleeding  nose  with  one 
hand,  held  up  the  other  for  silence,  and  then  ex 
claimed,  "He  didn't  hear  the  referee,  fellows.  I 
know  he  didn't  hear  him."  Whereupon  cheers 
went  up  for  sturdy  fair-minded  "Teddy." 

He  took,  in  all,  many  lessons  in  the  science  of 
fisticuffs,  and  his  skill  stood  him  in  good  stead  on 
several  occasions  in  his  life.  But  he  had  not  the 
physique  to  put  him  among  the  best.  He  was  not 
over  five  feet  eight  inches  in  height,  and  his  reach 
was  not  great.  Still,  he  was  extremely  quick  and 
experienced,  and  nobody  in  college,  of  his  weight 


THE  CLASS  OF  '80  37 

and  inches,  could  stand  up  long  against  him.  His 
hands  were  small.  I  have  often,  in  later  years, 
glanced  at  his  small  hands  and  thought  how  little 
adapted  they  seemed  for  the  boxing-gloves  and 
other  rough  sports,  as  also  for  the  vigorous  de 
mands  upon  him  as  a  hunter  of  "big  game." 

Whatever  Roosevelt  happened  to  be  doing  at 
a  given  moment,  that  thing  he  did  with  enormous 
energy.  Even  when  he  was  reading  —  perhaps  in 
a  fellow  student's  room,  and  the  room  full  of  noisy, 
rollicking  mates,  he  clutched  the  book  with  both 
hands,  generally  at  the  top  on  the  under  side,  and 
all  his  energy,  physical  as  well  as  mental,  seemed 
to  be  concentrated  on  the  act.  One  of  our  class 
mates  has  told  me  that  on  a  certain  occasion  when 
Roosevelt  was  in  this  classmate's  room  and  was 
discussing  some  subject,  he  became  so  strenuous 
that  he  broke  a  chair  with  which  he  was  emphasiz 
ing  some  point  in  the  discussion.  And  I  remember 
distinctly  listening  to  him  at  an  Exchange  Club 
dinner,  many  years  after  college,  where  he  was 
addressing  several  hundred  men  on  technical  points 
in  hunting.  The  markings  and  warning  signals 
of  rabbits  and  deer  I  think  was  one  of  his  topics. 
And  in  listening  to  his  vigorous  sentences  and  in 
observing  his  equally  vigorous  gestures,  one  might 
have  supposed  that  the  speaker  was  holding  forth 
on  his  one  special  life-theme.  Whereas,  at  that 


38       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

period  in  his  public  career,  he  was  carrying  on 
effectively  scores  of  projects  and  was  bearing 
heavy  burdens  of  national  policy. 

In  those  college  days  of  '76-'80,  Roosevelt  had 
all  his  mental  and  physical  energy  and  less  sophis 
tication  than  he  acquired,  inevitably,  afterward. 
In  our  classrooms,  in  our  lecture  hours,  it  was  not 
often  that  any  student  broke  in  upon  the  smoothly 
flowing  current  of  the  professorial  address.  But 
Roosevelt  did  this  again  and  again,  naively,  with 
the  evident  aim  of  getting  at  the  more  detailed 
truth  of  the  subject.  One  of  my  classmates,  who 
was  in  his  section  of  Political  Economy  (Pol.  Econ., 
for  short)  writes  me  that  he  recalls  Roosevelt's 
pushing  questions  at  the  instructor  and  even  de 
bating  points  with  him.  This  novel  action  made 
Roosevelt  a  subject  of  wonder  and  comment.  Free 
Trade  was  the  undergraduate  fetich,  at  Harvard, 
at  that  epoch,  and  probably  was  the  topic  most 
debated. 

Another  letter  from  another  classmate  goes 
more  into  detail.  I  quote  from  the  letter,  literally : 
"I  recall  an  incident  in  one  of  the  classes  when  the 
instructor,  Professor  D  -  -  ,  a  much  beloved  man, 
was  discussing  differences  between  curly-haired 
races  and  those  with  straight  hair.  The  opinion 
was  presented  by  him  that  straight-haired  races 


THE  CLASS  OF  '80  39 

greatly  excelled.  Whereupon  Roosevelt  —  you  re 
member  he  had  brown  curly  hair  —  arose  and  de 
clared,  very  forcibly,  that  he  did  not  agree  with 
the  instructor.  At  once  the  whole  section  'Wooded 
up',  with  much  laughter.  And  Professor  D  - 
joined  in  it.  Roosevelt  was  by  no  means  dismayed, 
but,  now  with  his  smile,  stuck  to  his  point.  'I'm 
right  in  my  view,  just  the  same.'  Then  he  sat 
down." 

From  a  classmate's  letter  I  quote ;  "I  was  with 
Roosevelt  in  a  Rhetoric  section.  Just  who  the  in 
structor  was  I  cannot  say.  But  I  remember  that  it 
was  always  difficult  to  get  any  definite  statement 
out  of  him,  on  any  subject.  One  day  Roosevelt 
tried.  I  remember  distinctly  his  vain  efforts  to 
get  a  'Yes'  or  'No'  in  reply  to  his  question. 
Perhaps  so  brief  a  reply  could  not  have  been 
given.  At  any  rate,  Roosevelt  did  not  get  it. 
And  I  recall  distinctly  his  characteristic  and  un 
concealed  gesture  of  impatience  and  disgust  as  he 
settled  back  in  his  seat." 

From  another  source  I  have  an  illustration  of 
the  same  unquenchable  spirit.  Roosevelt  engaged 
in  a  public  debate  at  the  Harvard  Union,  then 
situated  on  Main  Street,  near  Central  Square. 
What  the  topic  of  debate  was  I  do  not  know.  But 
Roosevelt's  side  lost,  as  adjudged  by  the  referee 


40       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

committee.  He  acquiesced  cheerfully  in  their  de 
cision,  and  at  the  close  of  the  meeting,  going  up  to 
the  two  opponents  and  shaking  hands  cordially,  he 
congratulated  them  on  their  good  work.  Then  he 
added  firmly,  "But  we  had  the  right  of  the  ques 
tion,  for  all  that." 


CHAPTER  IV 

MORE  COLLEGE  DAYS 

During  the  three  or  four  years  after  Roosevelt's 
graduation,  his  character  underwent  great  changes. 
But  through  the  four  years  of  his  college  course 
he  remained  substantially  the  same,  except  for  the 
steady,  normal  acquisition  of  knowledge  and  de 
velopment  of  character  which  would  be  expected  of 
any  collegian. 

When  he  came  to  college  his  family  forbears 
and  social  background  were  not  unknown  to  va 
rious  members  of  the  Freshman  class,  and  he  was 
welcomed  as  a  man  eligible  to  all  the  social  advan 
tages  at  Cambridge  which  his  position  implied.  In 
Roosevelt's  college  days  there  were,  roughly  speak 
ing,  some  forty  societies  among  the  students.  How 
far  Roosevelt  sought  admission  to  these  organiza 
tions  and  how  much  he  was  sought  for,  I  cannot 
say.  Not  only  was  he  a  "desirable",  but  he  cer 
tainly  would  have  applied  for  admission,  if  he  had 
desired  it,  at  any  door  where  such  application  was 
proper. 

Accordingly  he  became  a  member  of  thirteen 


42       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

of  the  forty  societies,  some  of  these  being  the  In 
stitute,  Hasty  Pudding,  Porcellian,  Rifle  Club, 
Glee  Club  (Associate  Member),  Art  Club,  D.  K. 
Society,  Finance  Club,  Athletic  Association,  and 
Natural  History  Society.  In  addition  he  was  an 
editor  of  the  Harvard  Advocate  during  his  Senior 
year ;  and  —  as  already  mentioned  —  he  was  made  a 
Phi  Beta  Kappa  man. 

In  these  various  clubs  he  fulfilled  his  duties  ac 
ceptably  and  often  with  distinction.  Perhaps 
among  them  all,  the  one  where  he  was  least  ade 
quate  was  the  Porcellian.  I  was  not  of  Porcellian 
timber  myself,  and  have  no  first-hand  knowledge 
of  the  matter.  But  from  a  friend,  a  college  mate, 
I  gather  that  the  seripus  and  almost  austere  young 
Knickerbocker  did  not  find  the  aims  and  methods 
of  that  social  group  very  much  to  his  liking.  Nor 
in  turn  was  he  felt  to  be,  by  his  fellow  members, 
an  enthusiastic  sympathizer  in  their  club  life. 
There  was  nothing  seriously  out  of  joint  in  his 
membership,  but  he  did  not  care  much  for  the 
frivolities  of  ordinary  group-conversation,  and  he 
drew  a  very  strict  line  of  restraint  for  himself  in 
all  matters  convivial. 

The  group  of  which  he  was  most  vitally  a  part  in 
college  was  undoubtedly  his  dining  club.  A  group 
of  eight  men  it  was,  as  originally  formed  in  the 
Freshman  year,  and  later  a  group  of  six.  The  club 


MEMBERS    OF    DINING-CLUB,    AT    HARVARD,    1880. 


MEMBERS    OF    DTNTNG-CLUB,    1905. 


MORE  COLLEGE  DAYS  43 

met  at  "Mrs.  Wilson's",  now  Number  62  Brat 
tle  Street,  Cambridge.  And  their  daily  con 
tact  brought  the  men  very  closely  together.  Of 
course  all  kinds  of  topics  were  discussed,  and  often 
differences  of  opinion  brought  on  heated  debates. 
I  am  told  that  eager  and  excited  as  Roosevelt 
usually  became  in  discussing  a  subject,  he  rarely, 
if  ever,  wholly  lost  his  self-control.  Some  of  the 
others,  on  the  contrary,  did  at  times  go  beyond 
their  rational  poise.  And  it  frequently  resulted  in 
Roosevelt's  looking  up  from  his  plate  —  to  which 
he  usually  gave  his  close,  near-sighted  attention  — 
and  exclaiming,  "I  say  now,  fellows,  don't  let's  get 
too  hot  over  this  matter !  We  can't  all  see  things 
just  alike.  Now,  let  up  a  little,  do!" 

And  thus,  many  a  time,  he  was  a  veritable  peace 
maker  for  that  ardent  little  group. 

He  usually  ate  heartily,  I  am  told.  "Two  helps" 
being  nearly  always  called  for  by  him.  When  he 
received  his  portion,  he  was  accustomed  to  retain 
his  spectacles  and  prepare  it  carefully  on  his  plate. 
When  prepared,  he  took  off  his  glasses  and  de 
voted  himself  pretty  exclusively  to  eating.  He 
seemed  to  be  keeping  up  a  line  of  absorbed  thought 
as  he  ate.  As  one  of  this  group  told  me,  "He  did 
not  seem  to  enjoy  eating  very  much,  but  ate  as  we 
might  stoke  a  furnace  —  because  it  must  be  done. 
He  did  not  live  to  eat,  but  he  ate  to  live."  He 


44       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

seems  to  have  had  a  deliberate  purpose  in  this 
matter  of  eating,  as  he  did  in  nearly  all  his  acts. 
Many  years  afterward,  when  he  was  starting  upon 
what  looked  like  an  exhausting  political  campaign, 
he  said  —  in  sketching  his  plans  to  a  former  college 
classmate  —  "And  I'm  going  to  eat.  If  a  man 
doesn't  eat,  he  can't  work." 

At  times,  in  the  intimate  little  dining  club,  he 
put  on  his  glasses  and  joined  in  some  discussion. 
Not  frequently,  but  always  with  vigor.  Apropos 
of  his  offices  as  peacemaker,  I  recall  the  account 
given  of  another  attempt  of  his  to  quiet  a  noisy 
group.  One  evening  he  and  several  friends  went 
to  a  theater  in  Boston.  After  the  performance 
they  drifted  into  "Ober's"  -  a  somewhat  promiscu 
ous  restaurant  just  back  of  Washington  Street, 
near  Winter  Street.  Here  "all  sorts  and  condi 
tions"  of  men  —  and  women  —  and  drink  —  were 
to  be  found.  Roosevelt's  group  became  somewhat 
heated  and  enthusiastic  and  demonstrative.  There 
was  no  saying  what  the  climax  might  have  been. 
Suddenly  Roosevelt  leaped  upon  a  table  and,  ges 
turing  vigorously,  cried  out  above  the  din,  "I  say, 
fellows,  let's  not  go  too  far!  We  mustn't  carry 
this  thing  too  far.  We've  about  reached  the  limit, 
fellows.  Let's  get  out!" 

Somebody  bigger  and  stronger  than  himself 
promptly  pulled  him  off  the  table,  amid  a  roar  of 


MORE  COLLEGE  DAYS  45 

good-natured  laughter.  And  he  and  his  noisy  com 
panions  soon  started  for  the  sequestered,  academic 
groves  of  Cambridge. 

There  was  never  any  danger  to  his  reputation 
as  a  vigorous,  virile  fellow  in  his  doing  a  thing  of 
that  sort.  His  game  qualities  in  sparring  and 
wrestling  and  in  debate  were  too  well  known  for 
that.  As  one  man  who  had  sparred  and  wrestled 
with  him  frequently  said  to  me  recently,  "He  was 
such  a  fair-minded  fellow.  Open,  square,  generous, 
an  awfully  fierce  fighter,  but  always  a  good  sport." 

Altogether  Roosevelt,  in  his  college  days,  took 
his  place  as  a  somewhat  unique  personality.  The 
normal  conventional  kind  of  man  could  not  make 
him  out,  but  respected  and  wondered  at  him. 
Whether  he  would  turn  out  a  crank  or  a  leader  of 
some  new  order  stood  a  puzzling  question.  Wil 
liam  Roscoe  Thayer,  Harvard  '81,  speaks  of  sitting 
with  Roosevelt  on  the  window  seat  of  a  room  in 
Holworthy,  and  chatting  about  what  they  intended 
to  do  after  their  college  course.  "I'm  going  to 
try  to  help  the  cause  of  better  government  in  New 
York  City,"  declared  Roosevelt,  "although  I  don't 
know  exactly  how."  And  Thayer  comments,  "I 
looked  at  him  inquiringly  and  wondered  whether 
he  was  the  real  thing  or  only  a  bundle  of  eccentrici 
ties."  Results  have  shown  that  he  was  indeed  "the 
real  thing." 


46       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

Again  and  again  his  classmates  have  been  asked, 
"Did  you  see  signs  in  him,  in  those  days,  of  the 
greatness  which  he  afterward  showed?"  I  do  not 
find  anybody  except  Charles-  G.  Washburn,  of 
our  class,  who  quite  asserts  that  he  saw  greatness 
in  Roosevelt  in  college.  Washburn  was  one  of  the 
original  eight  members  of  the  dining  club  previ 
ously  mentioned  and  had  opportunities  to  know 
him  well.  A  few  years  ago  he  wrote  an  excellent 
and  discriminating  book  about  this  classmate  whom 
he  profoundly  admired.  In  it  he  says,  "It  became 
evident  very  early  that  Roosevelt  was  a  person 
sui  generis  and  not  to  be  judged  by  ordinary  stand 
ards.  Very  early  in  our  college  life  I  came  to 
believe  in  his  star  of  destiny." 

I  have  implied,  perhaps,  in  my  recital  of  his 
outspokenness  in  the  classroom,  that  he  was  not 
unduly  sensitive  and  shy.  The  whole  truth  of  the 
matter  is  that  he  was  really  shy,  but  he  persist 
ently  struggled,  in  this  field  as  in  so  many  others, 
to  overcome  a  natural  defect  which  he  saw  tended 
to  hamper  him  in  whatever  work  he  might  engage 
in.  There  are  several  pieces  of  evidence  pointing 
to  this  conclusion.  To  any  person  who  saw  and 
heard  him  frequently,  in  his  later  public  life,  as  he 
made  speeches  and  gave  addresses  countless  in 
number,  it  might  have  seemed  as  if  he  had  never 
known  shyness  or  stage  fright. 


MORE  COLLEGE  DAYS  47 

One  incident  which  reveals  his  undergraduate 
shyness  and  sensitiveness  has  been  given  me  by  one 
of  the  participants  in  the  scene.  It  appears  that 
a  committee  of  three  students  presented  themselves 
before  President  Eliot,  to  state  some  grievance. 
Roosevelt  was  to  be  the  spokesman.  The  Presi 
dent  entered  the  room.  No  American  citizen  whom 
I  have  ever  known,  and  no  European  royalty 
whom  I  have  ever  seen  equaled  him  in  dignity  and 
majesty  of  mien.  And  when  Roosevelt  confronted 
that  dignity  and  majesty,  his  "tongue  clave  to  the 
roof  of  his  mouth",  —  for  a  moment  only.  Then 
he  burst  out,  "Mr.  Eliot,  I  am  President  Roose 
velt — ,"  which  confused  him  still  more,  and  for 
several  moments  he  could  say  nothing. 

All  this  timidity  he  triumphed  over,  in  due  time. 
Doctor  Edward  Everett  Hale,  a  past  master  in 
public  speaking,  was  once  asked  by  an  eager  but 
shy  young  man  how  he  could  overcome  his  extreme 
shyness  in  public.  "Speak  every  time  anybody 
asks  you  to,"  replied  the  honored  author  of  "The 
Man  Without  a  Country."  And  the  advice  was 
sound.  Roosevelt's  experience  in  New  York 
politics  took  away  all  his  shyness. 

In  private,  he  never  had  any  real  shyness  about 
talking,  although  as  a  child  he  had  always  spoken 
rapidly,  and  sometimes,  in  his  eagerness,  incoher 
ently.  But  his  difficulty  was  one  of  the  tongue 


48       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

and  larynx,  not  of  the  mind  and  will.  He  could 
talk,  and  at  times  he  could  refrain  from  talking. 
One  of  my  classmates,  a  most  genial,  likeable 
man,  has  given  me  an  illustration  of  this  from  his 
own  experience.  Speaking  of  hunting  and  other 
outdoor  sports,  my  friend  said:  "That  was  one  of 
the  points  I  held  in  common  with  Roosevelt,  at 
college.  I  liked  shooting.  And  he  went,  again 
and  again,  up  into  Maine  with  'Bill'  Sewall,  to 
camp  and  hunt.  Several  times  Roosevelt  asked 
me  to  come  to  his  room  to  talk  about  some  trip  I 
had  taken  in  the  woods  or  along  the  shore,  in  search 
of  game.  He  would  ask  the  most  minute  ques 
tions  about  the  cries  and  habits  of  the  birds  and 
animals  which  I  had  hunted.  He  cared  far  more 
for  that  side  of  the  subject  than  I  did.  But  when 
I  had  told  him  all  I  knew,  I  recall  that  he  suddenly 
ceased  his  questions,  took  up  a  book  or  magazine, 
and  began  to  read. 

"What  do  you  think  of  that?"  continued  my 
friend.  "You  are  trying  to  analyze  him.  Now, 
how  do  you  explain  him,  there?" 

I  hesitated  over  my  reply.  Then  I  ventured, 
"A  lack  of  sympathy,  was  it?" 

My  friend's  hearty  laugh  reassured  me.  "No!" 
he  replied.  "He  was  just  bored  with  me.  That 
was  all.  He  had  drained  me  of  the  information 
he  sought;  and  on  other  subjects  I  just  bored  him. 


MORE  COLLEGE  DAYS  49 

He  was  interested  in  more  serious  questions  than 
I  cared  for." 

There  is  one  incident  of  Roosevelt's  career  at 
Cambridge  which  has  been  told  repeatedly,  but 
often  it  has  been  told  incorrectly.  I  have  the  best 
of  reasons  for  believing  that  this  version  which  I 
give  is  the  right  one. 

At  his  home  in  New  York  he  had  grown  up  in 
the  habit  of  attending  church  and  Sunday  school  of 
the  Dutch  Reformed  faith.  When  he  came  to 
Cambridge  there  was  no  church  of  that  kind  within 
reach.  But  he  had  been  reared  in  the  firm  belief 
that  every  man  ought  to  connect  himself  with  some 
church  and  in  some  way  serve  it,  and,  through  it, 
society.  As  he  examined  the  several  churches  near 
Harvard  Square,  he  found  himself  in  sympathy 
with  Christ  Church,  Episcopalian,  Reverend  Mr. 
Spalding,  rector. 

Accordingly,  without  consulting  anybody,  he 
presented  himself  before  Mr.  Spalding  and  ex 
pressed  a  wish  to  teach  a  class  in  the  Sunday  school. 
I  knew  Mr.  Spalding  personally,  and  I  think  he 
was  somewhat  surprised  at  this  unsolicited  offer  of 
service.  But  he  concealed  any  surprise  he  felt  and 
replied  calmly  that  he  would  be  happy  to  put  Mr. 
Roosevelt  in  charge  of  a  promising  class  of  boys. 
This  was  done,  and  all  went  happily  for  a  time. 
"Teddy"  was  known  by  his  companions  to  be 


50       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

teaching  in  a  Sunday  school,  but  nothing  that  he 
did  surprised  anybody  who  was  intimate  with  him. 

All  went  well  in  his  teaching  for  several  months. 
The  boys  admired  him,  and  he  loved  them.  With 
his  characteristic  "largeness  of  nature",  he  gave 
presents  at  Christmas  time  to  his  pupils  which 
quite  surpassed  the  presents  of  other  teachers  to 
other  boys.  And  a  certain  lowering  of  "morale" 
became  evident  in  the  school  as  this  fact  became 
generally  known.  A  little  reconsideration,  how 
ever,  corrected  this  too  expansive  Christmasing, 
and  all  went  on  in  peace. 

One  Sunday,  after  several  months  had  passed, 
one  of  the  little  boys  —  "Billy",  we  will  say  —  came 
into  the  class,  and  was  plainly  seen  to  have  a  sus 
piciously  "black  eye."  His  companions  did  not 
try  very  hard  to  ignore  it;  in  fact,  they  made  fre 
quent  terse  inquiries  about  its  cause.  At  length 
their  teacher  himself  asked  Billy  directly  but  sym 
pathetically  about  the  matter. 

For  a  few  moments  Billy  parried  inquiries,  but 
presently  burst  out,  "Well,  yer  see,  Sam  —  that  big 
feller,  Sam  —  he  came  along  where  I  was  playing 
marbles  with  Jimmie.  And  he  swiped  some  of  my 
marbles.  And  I  told  him  to  give  'em  back,  and  — 
well,  that's  how  I  got  my  eye  blacked." 

It  was  a  frank  statement  of  elemental  facts  and 
forces,  and  the  young  teacher  saw  it  as  such.  But 


MORE  COLLEGE  DAYS  51 

he  felt  leanings  in  two  directions.  His  natural 
sympathy  was  with  the  boy  and  his  stand  for  his 
rights  of  property.  But  he  remembered  that  he 
was  a  Sunday-school  teacher.  So,  after  a  moment's 
deliberation,  he  said,  "Of  course  you  know,  Billy, 
it's  wrong  to  fight  —  that  is,  er  —  generally  it  is. 
And  I'm  sorry  about  this.  I  hope  it  won't  happen 
again." 

This  said,  he  slipped  a  twenty-five-cent  piece 
into  Billy's  hand,  and  the  lessons  of  the  class  were 
resumed.  It  is  said  that  this  award  of  the  young 
teacher's  became  known  to  the  somewhat  rigid  rec 
tor,  and  resulted  in  Roosevelt's  being  relieved  of 
his  duties  with  the  class.  And  for  many  days  it 
was  a  standing  jibe  with  the  waggishly  inclined 
among  his  friends  for  somebody  to  inquire  of  him, 
"Well,  Teddy,  teaching  Sunday  school  still?" 

It  is  only  a  trifling  incident,  this,  but  it  has  a 
point  in  common  with  larger,  later  events,  even 
with  the  Panama  Canal  incident.  In  both  cases 
Roosevelt  was  not  content  with  technical,  conven 
tional  morality.  He  went  below  technicalities  and 
got  at  the  equity  of  the  situation,  as  I  will  affirm, 
more  minutely,  in  a  later  chapter. 

Another  characteristic  of  Roosevelt's  is  implied 
in  this  incident.  It  is  the  exceptional  way  in  which 
he  combined  in  himself  qualities  mutually  antag 
onistic,  qualities  which  in  most  people  are  not 


52       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

found  existing  together.  For  example,  he  was 
capable  of  the  highest  idealism,  yet  he  urged  re 
course  to  physical  force,  to  fist,  blows,  under  cer 
tain  conditions.  In  all  his  writings  and  his  ad 
dresses,  he  held  up  the  highest  moral  conduct  as 
the  only  worthy  aim  of  individuals  and  nations. 
And  he  exemplified  it  in  his  private  life  and  in  his 
public  policies.  Yet  when  he  was  asked  what  a 
man  should  do  if --for  instance  —  another  man 
were  to  spit  at  him,  or  threaten  him  with  violence, 
his  prompt  reply  was,  "Strike  him  and  strike  him 
first." 

The  exceptional  assemblage  of  opposite  quali 
ties  in  his  character  I  have  seen  exhibited  by  him 
as  he  discussed,  for  instance,  "Greetings  and  fare 
wells  among  primitive  people."  He  followed  the 
subject  down  to  its  minutest  details.  And  a  lis 
tener  might  have  thought,  "This  man  is  meticu 
lous.  He  lives  in  small  things.  He  has  no  large 
range."  And  then,  in  an  instant,  I  have  seen  him 
swing  to  a  consideration  of  world-themes  and  treat 
them  in  the  largest  possible  way. 

I  was  reminded  of  this  significant  quality  in 
Roosevelt  recently,  as  a  classmate  told  me  that  he 
recollected  a  meeting  at  the  Hasty  Pudding  Club, 
when  Roosevelt  remained,  with  a  few  others,  nearly 
the  entire  night,  in  order  to  frustrate  an  attempt 
to  vote  in  a  student  whom  Roosevelt  and  others 


MORE  COLLEGE  DAYS  53 

considered  "undesirable."  There  are  many  men  — 
grim,  dogged  beings  —  of  whom  you  would  natur 
ally  expect  that  kind  of  bulldog  tenacity.  But  how 
easy  to  say  of  Roosevelt,  especially  in  his  mer 
curial,  youthful  days,  "This  brilliant  young  fellow 
is  quick  to  lay  hold  but  would  never  hold  on."  That 
would  be  a  natural  but  mistaken  judgment.  He 
could  think,  feel,  and  act  with  remarkable  speed, 
but  he  could  also  sustain  his  thought  and  feeling 
and  action  to  the  last  gasp. 

The  psychology  of  his  nature  probably  was  this. 
That  after  he  had  begun  promptly,  tempera 
mentally,  upon  the  mental,  physical  or  emotional 
act  or  state,  he  threw  it  over  into  the  domain  of  his 
enlightened  will.  And  his  dogged  resolution,  like 
a  vise,  held  him  to  his  chosen  path. 

It  pleases  me  to  add  that  the  classmate  who  told 
me  this  incident  of  the  undesirable  Hasty  Pudding 
applicant  closed  his  remarks  with  a  moment's 
meditation,  and  then  added,  with  tenderness  and 
yet  firmness,  "Oh,  Theodore  was  such  a  clean- 
minded  fellow." 

Following  this  incident  of  the  Pudding  meeting, 
I  may  properly  explain  that  Roosevelt  was  no 
"dog  in  the  manger",  glad  to  keep  somebody  out 
of  what  he  himself  was  enjoying.  There  was  the 

case  of  R .  He  was  shy,  inexpressive,  and  not 

very  attractive  at  first  sight.  But  he  had  excellent 


54       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

qualities  underneath,  as  Roosevelt  happened  to 
know.  Accordingly,  when  R  -  -  came  up  as  a 
candidate  for  the  Pudding,  and  seemed  likely  to 
be  black-balled,  Roosevelt  put  in  a  very  earnest 
and  successful  plea  for  him. 

No,  it  was  not  blind,  brute,  bulldog  tenacity  in 
Roosevelt,  nor  was  it  conceit  of  leadership.  It  was 
simply  his  inherent  love  of  "the  square  deal." 

Frederick  Mather  Stone,  Harvard  '82,  has 
given  me  an  incident  which  serves  my  purpose 
excellently,  as  I  try  to  elucidate  my  classmate's 
qualities  and  characteristics  from  such  anecdotes 
and  reminiscences  as  I  can  gather.  Stone  was 
"running"  for  the  "Dickey."  In  the  yard  one  day, 
as  he  came  near  Gray's,  he  saw  Roosevelt  —  al 
ready  a  member  of  the  Dickey  —  sitting  on  the 
front  steps. 

It  might  be  interpolated  here  that  when  Roose 
velt  was  "running"  for  the  "Dickey",  one  of  his 
stunts  was  to  attend  a  performance  of  the  Medea, 
then  playing  in  Boston,  and  applaud  all  the  somber 
situations  in  that  extremely  somber  drama. 

Roosevelt  beckoned  Stone  to  come  near;  then 
he  asked,  with  all  the  license  of  interrogation  al 
lowed  him  at  such  a  time,  "What's  your  name?" 

Stone's  reply  was  "Rocks,  by  God  — "  then 
trailing  on  into  some  language  so  reprehensible 
that  he  would  not  repeat  it  to  me. 


MORE  COLLEGE  DAYS  55 

Roosevelt  listened  to  the  full  statement;  then  he 
asked,  "You  don't  like  to  say  that  vile  stuff,  do 
you,  Stone?" 

And  Stone  replied,  "I  certainly  don't." 

At  this  point  in  the  story,  if  Roosevelt  had  been 
an  ordinary,  average  man,  he  would  have  said, 
"I'm  sorry  that  you  have  to  say  it,'"  and  the  inter 
view  would  have  ended.  But,  being  the  excep 
tional  young  fellow  he  was,  predestined  by  his  just 
and  generous  nature  to  take  up  every  grievance 
he  came  across,  he  exclaimed,  "Then,  Stone,  don't 
you  say  that  dirty  stuff.  Say  the  first  three  words 
when  you're  asked,  and  no  more.  And,  Stone,  if 
anybody  makes  a  fuss,  you  refer  him  to  me.  I'll 
back  you." 

Roosevelt  always  rebelled  at  vague  ethical  gen 
eralities  and  the  dry  husks  of  righteousness  and 
sought  out  and  acted  upon  the  kernel  of  right, 
truth,  justice,  —  in  the  one  particular  situation 
which  confronted  him.  In  his  Autobiography  he 
mentions  Professor  A.  S.  Hill  by  name,  and  with 
evident  gratitude  and  appreciation.  A  feeling 
which  I  also  share,  as  a  pupil  of  Professor  Hill. 
But  when  I  seek  for  an  explanation  of  my  class 
mate's  evident  preference  for  that  somewhat 
caustic  teacher  of  Rhetoric  and  English,  I  am 
puzzled. 

Further,  I  have  this  incident  from  one  of  my 


56       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

classmates.  He  tells  me,  "One  day,  at  Cambridge, 
in  our  Sophomore  year,  I  met  Roosevelt  just  out 
side  University  Hall  —  the  building  where  most  of 
the  college  departments  had  their  offices.  He  was 
considerably  excited.  When  I  asked  the  cause  of 
the  excitement,  he  burst  out  angrily,  'I'm  going 
straight  up  to  the  President  and  tell  him  that 
Professor  Hill  has  insulted  me.  He  said  this  morn 
ing,  before  the  whole  session,  that  I  could  never 
learn  to  write  good  English/  I  tried  to  pacify 
him,"  continued  my  classmate,  "and  I  think  I  did. 
For  when  I  left  him  he  did  not  go  up  into  Uni 
versity  as  he  had  intended." 

That  must  have  been  merely  a  passing  outburst 
of  youthful  indignation.  And,  years  after,  as 
Roosevelt  looked  more  calmly  back  over  his  college 
course,  there  seems  to  have  been  something  ad 
mirable  in  Professor  Hill's  character  or  methods 
which  made  Roosevelt  single  him  out  for  especial 
mention  in  his  Autobiography.  What  that  quality 
in  the  professor  was  I  cannot  say,  with  confidence. 
But,  knowing  the  two  men,  their  temperaments  and 
their  attitude  toward  life,  I  fancy  that  Professor 
Hill's  insistence  upon  linguistic  and  rhetorical 
realities,  beneath  the  academic,  cumbersome  rules 
handed  down  from  Whately  and  other  erudite 
writers  upon  rhetoric,  —  this  cutting  of  red  tape 
appealed  to  reality-loving  Theodore  Roosevelt, 


MORE  COLLEGE  DAYS  57 

The  story  has  been  told  that  it  was  in  the  Rhet 
oric  section,  during  his  Sophomore  year,  that 
Roosevelt's  romantic  interest  in  Miss  Lee  —  later 
his  wife  —  became  generally  known.  William 
Draper  Lewis,  in  his  interesting  "Life  of  Theodore 
Roosevelt",  has  given  an  account  of  this  matter  in 
some  detail.  "During  all  this  time  he  had  become 
more  and  more  interested  in  Miss  Alice  Hathaway 
Lee,  who  lived  in  Chestnut  Hill,  a  pleasant  suburb 
of  Boston.  During  his  Sophomore  year  he  was  a 
student  in  Rhetoric  under  Professor  Adams  Sher- 
win  Hill.  One  day  the  professor  was  reading  to 
his  class  a  theme,  which  he  objected  to  because  it 
was  over-romantic.  In  the  middle  of  his  reading, 
he  paused  and  asked  Roosevelt  to  criticize  the 
theme.  The  young  man  hesitated,  and  the  profes 
sor  then  asked  him  specifically,  'Mr.  Roosevelt, 
what  do  you  think  of  a  young  man  falling  in  love?' 
Roosevelt,  blushing  furiously,  made  no  answer. 
And  so  his  secret  was  out.  The  culmination  of  the 
affair  was  his  engagement  to  Miss  Lee,  and  their 
marriage,  on  his  twenty-second  birthday,  a  few 
months  after  he  had  graduated  from  college." 

I  have  visited  Cambridge  recently  to  refresh  my 
memory  upon  Roosevelt's  college  life.  There  is 
the  old  wooden  dwelling-house  on  Winthrop 
Street,  where  he  lived  during  practically  all  his 
four  years.  And  there  is  the  well-preserved,  dig- 


58       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

nified  house  at  Number  62  Brattle  Street  (corner 
of  Hilliard)  where  his  dining  club  met.  Also  I 
noted  the  substantial  iron  fence,  with  its  impressive 
gates,  which  now  surrounds  the  college  grounds. 
And  I  give  a  letter  from  one  of  my  classmates 
which  tells  how  that  encompassing  fence  came  to 
be  erected: 

"I  served  with  Roosevelt  and  John  Woodbury 
(our  faithful  class  secretary)  on  the  Class  Day 
Committee.  And  I  recall  that  Roosevelt  suggested 
that  the  Committee  should  use  a  material  portion 
of  the  class  fund  to  construct  a  picket  fence  around 
the  grounds,  to  protect  the  Class  Day  ceremonies 
from  invasion  by  the  uninvited  public.  Class  Day, 
'79,  the  previous  year,  had  been  spoiled  by  an  in 
cursion  of  a  mob,  and  it  was  our  wish  to  prevent  a 
recurrence  of  such  an  incident.  Roosevelt  sug 
gested  the  fence.  But  before  we  committed  our 
selves  to  so  large  an  expenditure,  we  secured  an 
assurance  from  '81  that  they  would  take  it  off  our 
hands  —  as  a  'second-hand'  fence,  of  course,  at  a 
reduced  price.  I  have  always  understood  that  this 
arrangement  was  carried  out.  That  picket  fence 
was  the  origin  of  the  dignified  iron  structure,  a 
splendid  gift  of  '81,  which  now  encompasses  the 
yard;  and  I  think  that  these  facts  are  worthy  of 
record  in  a  biography  of  Roosevelt." 

It  might  seem,  from  the  space  given  to  the  social 


MORE  COLLEGE  DAYS  59 

side  of  Roosevelt's  life  in  college,  that  his  work  in 
his  courses  of  study  was  of  little  moment.  His  own 
autobiographical  survey  of  his  four  years  as  an 
undergraduate  might  also  lead  the  casual  reader  to 
the  same  conclusion.  But  Roosevelt,  in  his  Auto 
biography,  is  too  modest  about  his  academic 
achievements.  I  have  already  adverted  to  them, 
but  not  in  sufficient  detail. 

Bearing  in  mind  the  number  of  clubs  and  so 
cieties  of  which  he  was  a  member,  and  the  time  he 
gave  to  athletics,  the  hasty  critic  might  expect  to 
find  that  not  much  time  and  interest  remained  for 
study.  But  here  again  we  find  him  combining  in 
himself  unrelated  and  almost  mutually  opposing 
qualities  and  aptitudes  which  in  most  people  are 
widely  separated  from  each  other.  Roosevelt  loved 
his  sparring  and  boxing  and  driving  and  shooting 
and  all  active  outdoor  sports,  but  he  could  put  his 
feet  under  a  desk  and  "toil  terribly."  He  could 
withdraw  his  trained  and  harnessed  will  from  all 
physical  action  and  put  it  into  intellectual  fields, 
for  sustained  effort  of  many  kinds,  and  with  ex 
cellent  results. 

I  will  use,  in  closing  this  chapter,  some  of  the 
material  gathered  by  my  classmate,  F.  J.  Ranlett, 
and  printed  in  an  article  by  him  in  the  Harvard 
Graduates'  Magazine  of  June,  1907. 

In  his  article,  among  many  useful  facts,  he  has 


60       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 


prepared  the  table  which  shows  how  Roosevelt  used 
the  privileges  of  the  new  elective  system : 


Hours  Taken  in 
Sophomore  Year 

Hours  Taken  in 
Junior  Year 

Hours  Taken  in 
Senior  Year 

3  hours     a     week     in 
German 
1  hour  in   French 

6  hours     in     Natural 
History 

1  hour  a  week  in  Ger 
man 
3  hours  in  Italian 

5  hours      in     Natural 
History 
3  hours     in     Political 
Economy 

3  hours  in  Italian 

6  hours     in     Natural 
History 
3  hours     in     Political 
Economy 

Mr.  Ranlett  points  out  that  one  third  of  Roose 
velt's  elected  courses  were  in  modern  languages,  no 
Latin  or  Greek.  Also,  that  the  table  contains  no 
courses  in  English  Composition  and  none  in  His 
tory,  "An  omission  very  noticeable  in  a  man  who, 
in  after  life,  wrote  so  much  and  so  well,  on  so  many 
subjects  —  even  in  historical  fields. 

"In  Sophomore  History,  and  in  the  other  pre 
scribed  coursed  —  Rhetoric,  Logic,  and  Meta 
physics  —  Roosevelt  took  high  stand.  And  in  all 
his  electives  (save  perhaps  a  one-hour  course  in 
French) ,  he  is  found  upon  the  rank-list.  In  Phil 
osophy  VI  (Political  Economy)  he  led  the  class. 
In  all  his  Natural  History  courses  his  rank  was  so 
high  that  Final  Honors  would  have  been  easy  for 
him.  But  he  cared  not  enough  for  this  outward 
distinction  to  try  for  it." 

The  table  given  by  my  classmate  Ranlett  is 


MORE  COLLEGE  DAYS  61 

provocative  of  surmise  and  conjecture,  in  the  light 
of  Roosevelt's  later  career.  It  will  be  interpreted 
in  various  ways  by  various  people.  He  entered 
college  poorly  equipped  in  Latin  and  Greek  and 
well  equipped  in  mathematics.  He  elected  Nat 
ural  History  at  the  earliest  opportunity  and  held 
to  it  throughout  his  three  elective  years.  He  gave 
no  attention  to  electives  in  Philosophy,  History, 
the  Fine  Arts,  and  Music.  He  gave  considerable 
attention  to  Political  Economy.  This  last  field  lay 
close  to  what  proved  to  be  his  life  work. 

In  our  time  at  Harvard  —  as  at  the  present  time 
—  the  custom  prevailed  of  having  the  group  photo 
graph  of  the  entire  class  taken  at  graduation.  And 
often,  as  I  have  glanced  over  that  picture,  at  that 
group  of  hopeful  young  men,  I  have  noted  with  a 
certain  satisfaction,  with  a  sentiment  indeed  not 
wholly  rational,  that  my  face  comes  next  to  his,  be 
side  him.  And  that  accidental  collocation  I  like  to 
take  "as  an  outward  and  visible  sign",  —  and  the 
rest  of  it.  All  his  public  life  I  was  close  to  him  in 
spirit,  in  sympathy,  in  eager  support.  "Beside 
him",  with  him,  whole-heartedly  so,  yielding  place 
to  no  man  in  my  admiration  and  devotion. 


CHAPTER  V 

A  POSTGRADUATE  COURSE 

In  October,  1880,  Roosevelt  was  united  in  mar 
riage  to  Miss  Alice  Hathaway  Lee,  of  Brookline, 
Massachusetts.  She  was  a  lovely  and  charming 
girl,  and  Roosevelt  gave  to  her  that  romantic  pas 
sion  which  would  have  been  expected  from  a  man 
of  his  ardent  idealistic  nature. 

Soon  after  their  marriage,  the  two  went  on  a 
trip  over  Europe.  In  Switzerland  he  made  the 
ascent  of  the  Matterhorn.  One  of  my  classmates 
writes  me,  "I  met  Roosevelt  at  Zermatt,  and  his 
wife  asked  me  to  remonstrate  with  him  about  climb 
ing  the  Matterhorn.  At  this  time  he  had  had  no 
experience  in  mountain  climbing.  I  did  urge  him 
not  to  attempt  the  ascent.  But  his  only  reply  was, 
4 1  shall  climb  the  mountain.'  And  he  did  it,  with 


success." 


The  mountain  climbing  was  not  quite  what  the 
physician,  who  had  given  him  a  careful  physical 
examination  as  he  was  ending  his  Senior  year, 
would  have  prescribed  for  him.  Said  that  physi 
cian  to  him,  "You  have  some  trouble  with  your 


A  POSTGRADUATE  COURSE  63 

heart.  You  must  choose  a  profession  which  will 
not  demand  of  you  violent  exertion."  Roosevelt 
listened  to  him  —  and  a  few  months  later  was  toil 
ing  up  the  Matterhorn.  But  he  was  right  and  the 
physician  was  wrong,  or  at  least  was  overcautious. 
It  is  well  to  note  that. 

A  biographer  or  a  historian  is  tempted  to  build 
his  narrative  in  periods,  as  a  nautilus  builds  its  shell, 
in  sections,  perhaps  condensing  and  crowding  too 
much  into  one  part  and  subordinating  or  ignoring 
some  other  part.  But  a  biography  or  a  history  is 
like  a  vine,  —  enlarging  or  shrinking,  but  always 
continuous. 

Yet  the  years  1881  to  1884  do  comprise  such 
radical  experiences  in  my  classmate's  life  that  I 
look  upon  them  as  forming  a  rounded  and  quite 
crucial  period,  which  more  shaped  his  future  than 
did  any  other  three  years  of  his  life. 

On  his  return  from  Europe  with  his  wife,  they 
took  up  their  abode  in  New  York  City.  And  three 
possible  vocations  invited  him.  His  old-time  pre 
dilection  for  natural  history  was  now  laid  aside. 
He  was  already  well  along  in  his  writing  of  his 
"History  of  the  Naval  War  of  1812";  that  work 
unquestionably  had  direct  bearing  upon  his  official 
duties  at  Washington  later  in  life.  There  was 
now  the  attractive  possibility  of  his  giving  his 
whole  attention  to  historical  or  biographical  work. 


64       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

Again,  there  was  the  field  of  political  life,  with  re 
form  aims,  as  he  had  intimated  to  friends  in  col 
lege.  And  last  but  nearest  lay  the  law  office  of 
his  uncle,  with  a  cordial  welcome. 

This  office  he  now  entered  and  began  the  study 
of  law.  But  he  did  not  long  continue  it.  Like 
James  Russell  Lowell  in  a  similar  situation,  he 
found  the  ends  sought  and  the  means  used  distaste 
ful  to  him.  In  Lowell's  case  there  was  little  except 
a  general  lack  of  interest  in  the  subject.  But  in 
Roosevelt  there  recurred  the  same  extreme  ethical 
sensitiveness  which  had  led  him  to  protest  at  Har 
vard,  in  his  theme  and  forensic  courses,  against 
taking  either  side  of  a  question,  irrespective  of  his 
personal  convictions.  He  tells  us  in  his  Autobiog 
raphy  that  if  he  had  come  under  the  broad  influence 
of  Professor  Thayer,  of  the  Harvard  Law  School, 
he  might  have  looked  at  the  matter  differently. 
But  as  he  faced  the  profession  of  the  law  in  his 
uncle's  office,  it  revolted  his  intense  love  of  truth 
and  sincerity.  And  he  would  have  none  of  it. 

Although  in  later  life  he  modified  his  extreme 
antipathy  to  legal  methods,  I  believe  that  he 
never  quite  lost  it.  He  was  almost  fanatical  on 
questions  of  morals.  And  although  he  afterward 
numbered  dear  friends  among  members  of  the 
legal  profession,  I  think  he  never  quite  acquiesced 
in  the  legal  doctrinaire  convention  that  every  ac- 


A  POSTGRADUATE  COURSE  65 

cused  person  has  a  right  to  the  best  possible  pres 
entation  of  his  case. 

This  subconscious  bias  I  believe  was  a  factor  in 
his  later  advocacy  of  the  recall  of  judicial  decisions. 
Not  only  did  he  hold  to  the  will  and  sovereignty 
of  the  People,  as  the  foundation  of  our  democracy, 
but  he  never  lost  his  ethical  distrust  of  the  infalli 
bility  of  a  group  of  men  trained  in  the  legal  schools. 
Apropos  of  his  "recall  of  judicial  decisions"  -  ad 
vocated  by  him  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  in  1912  —  I 
wrote  him  him  a  letter  in  which  I  pointed  out  that 
although  the  people  were  the  ultimate  power,  they 
were  often  hasty  and  fitful,  as  a  whole,  and  should 
be  checked  in  any  sudden  outburst  of  feeling,  —  in 
short,  should  be  ' 'protected  from  themselves."  In 
reply  came  this  letter,  dated  April  9,  1912: 

My  dear  Oilman— 

I  thank  you  for  your  letter  and  I  appreciate  it. 
I  agree  with  you  that  the  voters  should  be  "pro 
tected  from  themselves,"  but  that  means  only  that 
they  should  be  protected  to  the  extent  of  giving 
themselves  full  time  to  form  a  deliberate  judgment. 
My  proposal  gives  them  a  minimum  time  of  two 
years.  Surely  that  is  enough. 

With  many  thanks, 

Sincerely  yours, 

T.  Roosevelt. 

This  letter  brings  out  a  breadth  as  well  as  pene 
tration  of  view  which,  at  the  time  of  the  "recall" 


66      ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

incident,  was  generally  overlooked.  More  than 
that,  I  believe  that  Roosevelt's  action  in  this  mat 
ter,  his  daring  to  raise  even  the  slightest  shade  of 
doubt  regarding  the  infallibility  of  our  courts, 
brought  upon  him  that  opposition  of  the  legal  fra 
ternity  which  continued  throughout  his  life.  Judges 
and  lawyers,  like  the  members  of  any  class  or  pro 
fession,  resent  criticism  from  a  layman. 

Another  recrudescence  of  this  deep-down  and 
perhaps  morbid  antagonism  toward  legal  proced 
ure  came  out  in  his  address  before  Harvard  grad 
uates,  in  Memorial  Hall,  on  Commencement  Day, 
1905.  The  hall  was  full  to  overflowing.  The  Hon 
orable  Joseph  H.  Choate  presided.  Many  of  the 
nation's  most  eminent  citizens  were  present,  and 
a  large  proportion  of  them  were  lawyers.  At  a 
certain  points  in  his  address  —  which  he  had  written 
out  and  was  reading,  as  he  often  did  on  important 
occasions,  where  he  was  fearful  about  saying  ex 
cited  and  regrettable  things  —  he  uttered  these 
words:  "Is  it  not  lamentable  that  so  large  a  num 
ber  of  our  ablest  young  men,  having  finished  their 
undergraduate  course,  go  on  through  the  law 
schools  and  thence  into  the  world,  there  to  steer 
individuals  and  corporations  as  near  the  edge  of 
illegality  as  they  can  go  without  allowing  them  to 
get  over  the  edge?" 

This  was  uttered  in  the  hearing  of  hundreds  of 


A  POSTGRADUATE  COURSE  67 

eminent  members  of  the  American  Bar.  Up  to 
this  point  in  his  address  applause  had  been  fre 
quent  and  unreserved^.  But  on  the  instant  a  silence 
fell  on  that  august  assembly,  and  lips  compressed 
and  faces  frowned.  The  speaker  felt  at  once  the 
opposition  aroused.  But  it  did  not  frighten  him. 
On  the  contrary,  it  roused  his  superb  combative 
spirit.  He  paused,  looked  out  over  the  hall,  smiled 
his  unique  dental  smile,  and  remarked,  "The  ap 
plause  seems  somewhat  lukewarm  at  this  point.  I 
will  repeat  what  I  said."  And  repeat  it  he  did, 
with  additional  vigor.  And  that  great  assemblage, 
won  by  his  intrepidity  —  though  perhaps  uncon 
vinced  as  to  the  soundness  of  his  position  —  broke 
into  thunders  of  applause. 

The  essential  aim  of  this  volume  being  an  inter 
pretation  of  the  character  and  greatness  of  my 
classmate,  the  interesting  point  in  his  career,  to 
my  thinking,  in  the  period  of  1881-1884,  is  that 
during  it  he  underwent,  socially,  that  change  of 
heart,  of  perception,  of  conviction,  which  my  old- 
time  Professor,  Doctor  William  James,  termed  in 
the  religious  field  being  "twice-born." 

Doctor  James  expounded  this  view  fully  in  his 
book,  "Varieties  of  Religious  Experience."  He 
maintained  that  most  people  possessed  a  certain 
moderate  measure  of  religious  conviction  and  senti 
ment  by  their  birth  and  early  training,  almost  by 


68       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

absorption.  But  a  certain  number  of  these  people, 
somewhere  in  their  careers,  passed  through  some 
kind  of  special  experience,  or  conversion,  which  in 
tensified  their  previous  experience  and  gave  to 
them  quite  new  religious  convictions  and  senti 
ments.  These  people  were  the  "twice-born",  said 
Doctor  James,  "in  the  field  of  religion."  Similarly, 
but  in  the  social  field,  Theodore  Roosevelt  became 
"twice-born"  during  these  years  1881-1884.  As  a 
child,  he  had  been  born  into  and  trained  in  one  class 
of  society  —  the  "Best",  so  called  —  but  one  class 
only  of  our  nation.  He  was  in  that  degree  provin 
cial,  limited,  as  essentially  and  surely  as  was 
the  humblest  citizen  dwelling  in  the  purlieus  of  a 
congested  city.  But  his  life  during  those  eventful 
years  named  — '  his  intense  passion  for  his  beloved 
wife,  his  continuous  close  contact  with  stern,  bare, 
human  realities  in  political  life  through  three  years, 
his  profound  grief  at  the  death  of  his  wife  and 
his  mother  (the  two  occurring  in  February,  1884) 

—  these  experiences  made  of  him,  observant,  sensi 
tive  nature  that  he  was,  a  "twice-born"  man.    From 
the  refined  yet  provincial  social  life  of  his  childhood 
and  youth  he  developed  and  became  truly  demo 
cratic,  truly  cosmopolitan.     This  "postgraduate" 
education  of  his  was  continued  in  the  next  period, 

—  the  ranch  or  "cowboy"  period.    But  it  was  ac- 


A  POSTGRADUATE  COURSE  69 

complished,    essentially,    during    the    three   years 
named. 

This  larger  life  he  referred  to  once,  in  an  inti 
mate  group  where  I  was  present,  in  this  way:  "I 
tell  you,  fellows,  we  must  get  into  touch  with  all 
kinds  of  people.  We  must  be  able  to  see  life  from 
other  viewpoints  than  the  one  to  which  we  were 
born."  Then  he  paused  and  added,  "But  we  must 
keep,  through  it  all,  our  own  inner  standards."  And 
he  did  this.  I  know  of  no  more  dramatic  yet  now 
amusing  scenes  in  his  life  than  those  situations 
where  he  had  started  upon  a  political  canvas,  in 
New  York  City,  under  the  guidance  of  friendly 
yet  anxious  "Joe"  Murray,  and  was  taken  to  in 
terview  the  grog-shop  bosses  of  Sixth  Avenue. 
Much  as  he  desired  their  approval  and  support,  he 
would  not  cringe,  he  would  not  relax  those  "inner 
standards"  which  he  had  set  for  himself.  Not  only 
did  he  tell  a  frowning  saloonkeeper  that  instead  of 
getting  lower  taxes  for  liquor  sellers,  he  would 
try  to  have  the  taxes  increased,  but  he  maintained 
his  standards  of  dress  and  speech  in  situations 
where  most  men  would  have  tried  to  conform  to 
the  manners  and  customs  about  them.  Those  were 
essentially  opera-bouffe  scenes  —  that  well-bred, 
refined  young  fellow  from  Fifth  Avenue  holding 
himself  ever  a  gentleman,  as  he  sought  the  votes  of 
Sixth  Avenue  habitues.  Similar  situations  were 


70       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

met  by  him  later  in  a  similar,  sincere,  courageous 
way,  when  he  fraternized  with  ranchmen  and  cow 
boys  in  the  West. 

With  the  assistance  of  "Joe"  Murray,  "Jake" 
Hess,  and  other  perspicacious  friends,  Roosevelt 
gained  the  approval  of  men  who  had  never  before 
met  a  man  like  him.  They  saw  and  responded  to 
his  genuineness  as  he  did  to  theirs.  And  the  "Mor 
ton  Hall  crowd"  sent  him  to  the  Assembly,  at  Al 
bany,  where  he  maintained  his  moral,  social,  lin 
guistic,  and  sartorial  standards,  yet  gathered  grad 
ually  about  him  men  of  antipodal  manners  and 
customs,  fighting  always  for  reform  -  "playing  the 
honesty  game",  as  his  corrupt  fellow  legislators 
dully  and  anxiously  expressed  it. 

"Keep  in  touch  with  all  kinds  of  people,  get  their 
viewpoint,  but  maintain  your  own  inner  stand 
ards,"  urged  my  classmate,  in  my  hearing.  And 
he  exemplified  this  dictum  at  the  Progressive  Con 
vention  in  Chicago.  In  the  hot,  sultry  atmosphere 
of  the  hall,  nearly  every  man  had  put  off  his  coat 
and  even  his  waistcoat,  Roosevelt  among  the  num 
ber.  When  the  deciding  vote  was  cast  and  he  was 
declared  the  nominee  of  the  convention,  he  must 
needs  go  up  to  the  ^ostrum  to  accept,  formally  and 
solemnly,  the  honor  accorded  him.  At  once  he 
began  putting  on  his  coat.  Friends  near  him  ad 
vised,  "Go  along  just  as  you  are,  Roosevelt !  Don't 


A  POSTGRADUATE  COURSE  71 

bother  about  the  coat!"  But  with  a  nicety  of  feel 
ing  which  delights  me  as  I  recall  it,  he  made  no 
reply  but  insisted  upon  putting  on  the  coat.  And 
thus  properly  clad,  he  ascended  the  platform  and 
accepted  the  nomination. 

This  insistence  on  the  second  half  of  his  dictum  — 
the  inner  standards  —  is  not  the  half  which  most  in 
terests  me  as  I  study  his  crucial  three  years,  1881- 
1884.  Rather  it  is  the  half  about  "getting  the  view 
point  of  all  kinds  of  people."  Therein  lay  his  "sec 
ond  birth."  Even  as  the  politicians  about  him  were 
taking  his  measure,  he  was  taking  theirs.  Step  by 
step  he  gained  knowledge  of  their  motives,  out 
wardly  so  different  from  his  own,  yet  singularly 
alike  in  many  respects.  Consciously  or  uncon 
sciously  he  was  following  the  method  of  Robert 
Louis  Stevenson  —  "Friendship  without  capitula 
tion."  He  was  looking  —  not  for  differences,  but 
for  resemblances,  for  points  held  by  him  in  common 
with  the  bosses  and  "heelers",  and  keenly  enjoying 
them. 

Gazing  back  through  the  years  over  that  period 
of  Roosevelt's  "conversion",  its  strongest  dramatic 
scene,  its  "high  light",  is  the  one  at  Albany  where 
he  denounced  the  corrupt  judge,  member  of  the 
highest  court  in  the  State.  Like  an  intrepid  young 
paladin  of  righteousness,  this  idealistic  stripling  at 
tacked  not  only  the  august  judicial  luminary  him- 


72       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

self,  but  the  whole  bodyguard  of  Purse,  Privilege, 
and  Power  by  which  he  was  upheld. 

The  young  college  graduate  apparently  did  not 
differ  much  from  hundreds  of  other  young  aca 
demic  idealists,  as  he  entered  the  arena;  but  only 
the  Roosevelt  concentration,  tenacity,  and  fear 
lessness  enabled  him  to  fight  to  a  finish  a  battle 
where  he  defied  precedent,  alienated  friends,  and — 
as  he  once  said  to  me  —  "took  his  very  life  in  his 
hands." 

His  public  life,  his  political  future,  of  course  he 
meant.  And  the  "old  family  friend",  a  more  ex 
perienced  man,  thought  the  same  —  that  one  who 
held  an  interview  with  him,  praised  him  and  pres 
ently  bestowed  upon  him  the  eminently  worldly 
advice,  "Don't  go  too  far,  Theodore.  You've  made 
a  real  impression.  Now  let  the  matter  drop.  You'll 
be  put  down  and  out  if  you  go  on  any  longer 
against  those  big  men."  But  Roosevelt  was  never 
a  quitter  and  he  fought  the  battle  through,  ob 
tained  the  investigation  committees  which  he  had 
sought,  and  although  they  returned  a  "whitewash 
ing"  report,  the  public  was  convinced  that  his 
charges  had  been  sound. 

Mr.  Thayer,  speaking  of  Roosevelt's  keen,  re 
lentless  cross-examination  of  the  opposing  counsel, 
says  in  his  volume:  "Even  in  those  days,  Roose 
velt,  when  in  deadly  earnest,  had  a  way  of  fixing 


A  POSTGRADUATE  COURSE  73 

his  under  jaw  and  pointing  a  forefinger  which 
menaced  like  a  seven-shooter."  That  vivid  descrip 
tion  appeals  to  me  because  years  afterward  I  saw 
a  somewhat  similar  situation,  where  for  a  moment 
my  distinguished  classmate  —  then  President  of  the 
United  States  —  must  have  looked  much  as  he  did 
in  that  Assembly  Hall  at  Albany.  It  was  at  a 
class  dinner.  A  hundred  and  more  men  were  pres 
ent,  and  Roosevelt  had  been  asked  to  do  all  the 
after-dinner  speaking.  He  did  it  admirably,  tell 
ing  us  in  confidence  inside  facts  about  several  of 
his  "policies."  At  one  point  a  member  of  the 
class,  presuming  upon  the  speaker's  friendliness, 
interrupted  with  an  irrelevant  question.  Roosevelt 
gave  a  concise  reply,  then  continued.  A  second 
time  did  that  incautious  person  interject  a  remark. 
And  a  second  time  did  Roosevelt  reply,  but  with 
significant  brevity.  Then  he  resumed  his  talk.  A 
third  time  that  infatuated  man  arose  and  offered  a 
suggestion.  And  I  can  never  forget  the  tone,  look, 
and  gesture  with  which  Roosevelt,  annoyed  beyond 
endurance,  replied  to  him.  His  jaw  was  set,  his 
blue  eyes  flashed,  his  arm  and  forefinger  were 
leveled  like  a  gun  barrel,  and  his  voice  crackled 
like  a  machine  gun:  "When-I'm-through-you-can- 
talk." 

We  all  had  felt  chills  of  apprehension  at  the  in 
terruptions,  and  all  had  lamented  our  inter jectory 


74       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

classmate's  folly.  But  his  collapse,  upon  receiving 
that  rapid-fire  volley,  made  us  sorry  for  him,  even 
as  we  realized  that  he  deserved  it. 

I  am  struck,  as  I  read  about  Roosevelt's  Albany 
experiences,  with  the  way  in  which  he  blended  the 
idealistic,  the  academic,  if  you  will,  with  a  prac 
tical  attention  to  the  prosaic  and  athletic  demands 
of  any  situation.  When  he  took  that  leg  of  the 
broken  chair  into  the  arena-like  committee  room,  he 
showed  that  he  grasped  the  elemental,  brute-force 
possibilities  of  the  time  and  place.  He  had  sized  up 
the  quality  of  the  "Black  Horse  Cavalry."  He 
may  have  recalled  that  dastardly  recourse  to  brute 
force  in  the  United  States  Senate,  when  Preston 
Brooks  struck  down  unarmed  Charles  Sumner. 

At  any  rate,  physical  violence  was  not  attempted 
by  his  enemies  —  not  at  that  time  and  place.  But 
at  the  Dele  van  House  entrance,  later,  lurked 
"Stubby"  Collins  —  hireling  of  the  corrupt  legisla 
tive  ring  —  and  planned  to  knock  Roosevelt  down. 
But  the  alert  young  reformer  got  in  his  lightning 
blow  first.  With  that  skillful  arm  and  small  but 
well-hardened  fist  he  stretched  the  ruffian  upon  the 
floor  and  passed  on. 

The  really  essential  and  lasting  interest  which 
this  period  of  1881-1884  has  for  me  is  not  the 
iniquitous  ring,  nor  the  "unjust  judge",  nor  the  re 
volting  dwelling-house  sweatshops,  but  the  unfold- 


A  POSTGRADUATE  COURSE  75 

ing  of  Theodore  Roosevelt's  character.  In  the  light 
of  his  subsequent  national  leadership,  this  was  the 
important  factor.  And  again  I  affirm  that  he  was 
more  truly  a  self-made  man  than  any  character  — 
not  excepting  even  that  Abraham  Lincoln  whom  he 
so  admired  —  in  American  history.  As  he  passed 
through  the  years,  he  laid  them  under  tribute.  He 
impressed  himself  nobly  upon  them,  but  he  gathered 
from  them.  He  had  been  born  to  "privilege",  but 
he  constantly  added  to  the  number  of  his  contacts 
with  the  great,  real  world ;  and  he  retained  through 
all,  not  only  his  Sir  Galahad  idealism,  but  that 
phenomenal  will,  that  power  of  concentration  upon 
any  given  point  of  his  expanding  horizon,  which 
made  him  unique  in  our  national  annals. 


CHAPTER  VI 

"IN  COWBOY  LAND" 

"In  cowboy  land"  is  the  title  of  the  chapter  in 
Roosevelt's  Autobiography  in  which  he  describes 
his  experiences  on  the  Little  Missouri  River,  Da 
kota.  The  influences  which  led  him  to  go  out 
into  that  frontier  life  are  quite  evident.  He  had 
always  loved  camping  and  hunting,  and  while  in 
college  had  made  trips  into  the  Maine  forests.  His 
brother  Elliot  had  written  him  from  Texas  about 
the  fascinations  of  the  free,  wild  life  of  the  border. 
And  now  were  added  two  forces  which  quite  turned 
him  from  the  high-pressure  life  of  New  York  and 
the  complexity  and  corruptness  of  political  life. 

One  of  these  forces  was  his  discovery  and  dis 
appointment  that  he  had  come  to  the  end  of  what 
he,  alone,  as  an  individual,  could  accomplish  in  re 
form  work.  He  had  done  wonders  at  Albany  by 
his  personal  might.  He  had  yet  to  learn  —  as  he 
afterward  saw  and  said  —  that  teamwork  only,  with 
that  concession  of  individual  preference^  which 
goes  with  it,  could  carry  to  permanent  success  the 
kind  of  reform  work  upon  which  he  had  started. 


"IN  COWBOY  LAND"  77 

Without  self-excuse  he  stated  the  case  to  his 
trusted  friend,  Jacob  Riis,  years  afterward.  "I 
suppose  that  my  head  was  swelled.  I  let  my  in 
dividual  judgment  and  conscience  decide  every 
thing.  So  I  soon  found  myself  alone.  There  were 
other  honest,  excellent  people,  only  we  differed  in 
certain  matters.  I  know  now  that  if  you  want  to 
get  things  done  you  must  pull  together  as  far  as  is 
possible." 

Another  influence  which  decided  his  conduct  at 
this  point  was  the  sorrow  which  overwhelmed  him 
at  the  death  of  his  wife  and  his  mother.  And,  quite 
as  we  might  expect,  he  desired  to  go  away  from 
those  scenes  which  constantly  reminded  him  of  his 
loss  and  loneliness  and  to  seek  solace  from  the 
soothing  hand  of  Nature.  There  had  always  been 
for  him  a  "call  of  the  wild",  and  now  that  call  was 
one  of  help  and  healing. 

A  minor  cause  for  his  going  to  Dakota  at  this 
time,  yet  one  not  to  be  ignored,  was  that  his  old- 
time  foe,  asthma,  threatened  him  afresh.  His 
physical  strength  had  been  impaired  by  his  pro 
found  grief,  and  he  knew  that  the  sure  remedy  was 
such  an  open  life  as  a  western  ranch  offered.  So 
behold  him,  in  the  picturesque  garb  of  a  cowboy 
of  an  extreme  type,  settled  upon  his  newly  acquired 
property  on  the  Little  Missouri  and  throwing  his 


78       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

whole  being  into  the  manners  and  customs  of  that 
border  life. 

His  own  description  of  his  surroundings  reads 
thus :  "My  house  was  a  long,  low  building  of  hewn 
logs,  which  I  helped  to  build  myself.  It  had  a 
broad  veranda  and  rocking-chairs  and  a  big  fire 
place  and  elk-skins  and  wolf-skins  scattered  about. 
It  was  on  the  brink  of  the  Little  Missouri,  right  in 
a  clump  of  cottonwoods.  I  have  shot  deer  from  my 
veranda.  I  kept  my  books  near  me  and  did  a  deal 
of  writing,  being,  the  rest  of  the  time,  out  all  day 
in  all  kinds  of  weather." 

In  the  building  of  this  house  Roosevelt  assisted 
his  two  old-time  friends  of  the  Maine  woods,  Sewall 
and  Dow.  About  his  own  skill  with  an  ax  he  was 
perfectly  frank,  as  about  all  other  matters,  when  he 
spoke  calmly  and  reflectively:  "I  could  chop  fairly 
well  for  an  amateur,  but  I  could  not  do  one  third 
the  work  they  could  do."  And  he  was  vastly 
amused  when  he  overheard  somebody  ask  Dow 
about  his  efficiency  and  this  reply  was  given:  "Well, 
Bill  cut  down  fifty- three,  I  cut  down  forty-nine, 
and  the  boss  —  well,  he  beavered  down  seventeen." 

But  the  saddened,  lonely  young  man  was  not 
much  concerned  with  the  outer  results  of  his  exer 
tions.  The  inner,  subjective  results  were  what  he 
aimed  at,  and  this  vigorous  output  of  muscular 
force  was  the  very  corrective  which  he  sought  for 


"IN  COWBOY  LAND"  79 

his  grief.  The  broad  wild  spaces,  of  which  he  has 
written  with  warmth  and  poetic  feeling,  were  lay 
ing  their  charm  upon  him;  and  always  he  had 
dearly  loved  action  and  effort  of  the  most  strenu 
ous  kind.  Rowing  a  boat  he  had  found  more  en 
joyable  in  boyhood  than  sailing.  And  now,  in  his 
ranch  life,  he  shared  all  the  hardest,  roughest  work 
of  his  companions. 

This  has  a  bearing  on  any  analysis  of  Roosevelt's 
character.  There  are  two  general  classes  or  fields  of 
human  pleasures  —  those  where  a  man  sits  passive 
and  receives,  and  those  where  he  puts  himself  into 
vigorous  action.  The  pleasure  which  comes  from 
the  arts  —  to  the  listener  in  the  musical  world,  and 
to  the  spectator  in  the  plastic  and  the  pictorial  fields 
—  never  held  an  important  place  in  Roosevelt's  life. 
His  father  had  played  the  piano  for  his  children 
and  evinced  a  moderate  taste  for  music;  but  my 
classmate  never  possessed  much  keen  interest  in  it. 
At  college  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  Glee 
Club,  but  only  an  associate  member. 

Then,  although  his  rare,  intelligent  activity  made 
him  conversant  with  the  conventional  discrimina 
tions  concerning  pictures  and  statues,  I  believe  that 
he  never  got  much  joy  from  these  things.  It  is 
said  that  he  held  a  high  opinion  of  Remington,  the 
vivid,  vigorous  painter  of  men  and  animals  of  the 
Western  plains.  But  this  opinion  must  have  rested 


80       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

chiefly  upon  Roosevelt's   special  knowledge  and 
happy  associations  with  that  virile  frontier  life. 

Roosevelt's  duties  and  pleasures,  during  the 
period  of  his  ranch  life,  took  him  far  and  wide  over 
the  surrounding  country.  And  he  bore  his  share  of 
the  tasks  and  hardships  so  willingly  and  with  such 
persistent  endurance  that  he  soon  made  friends 
everywhere  among  the  cowboys,  even  among  those 
who  had  looked  with  distrust  and  contempt  at  this 
bespectacled  "dude"  from  the  East. 

Roosevelt  had  very  little  lasting  difficulty  with 
the  better  class  of  cowboys.  They  held  their  ele 
mental  moral  virtues,  as  did  he,  and  the  two  types 
soon  recognized  and  approved  each  other.  But 
there  were  many  "bad  men"  scattered  over  the 
new  country,  and  with  one  or  another  of  these  he 
came  into  collision.  One  evening  the  young  East 
erner  entered  a  "hotel",  fatigued  after  a  hard  day's 
riding.  The  barroom  was  the  living  room  of  the 
resort,  and  it  was  well  filled  with  cowboys  and 
cattlemen.  He  took  a  seat  in  a  corner,  out  of  the 
way.  But  a  local  bully,  the  worse  for  drink,  caught 
sight  of  his  unusual  face  and  figure  and  made  ad 
vances.  Roosevelt's  account  of  the  scene  is  vivid 
and  very  readable.  "As  soon  as  he  saw  me  he 
hailed  me  as  'Four  Eyes'  and  said  I  was  going  to 
treat.  I  joined  in  the  laughter  but  made  no  re- 


"IN  COWBOY  LAND"  81 

sponse.     He  then  came  over  near  me  and  with  a 
gun  in  each  hand  used  foul  language." 

Here  comes  to  the  rescue  —  as  several  times  in 
Roosevelt's  life  —  his  experience  in  boxing.  "He 
was  foolish  to  stand  so  near  and  foolish  to  stand 
with  his  heels  together,  in  a  very  unstable  position. 
He  ordered  me  to  get  up  and  treat. 

"I  rose  slowly,  remarking,  'Well,  if  I've  got  to, 
I've  got  to.'  Then,  looking  past  him  casually,  I 
suddenly  struck,  quick  and  hard,  with  my  right  on 
his  jaw,  then  with  my  left,  and  again  with  my 
right.  Down  he  went,  his  head  hit  the  corner  of 
the  bar,  and  he  lay  senseless.  Whereupon  the 
crowd  approved  heartily  my  action,  disarmed  him, 
hustled  him  out,  and  put  him  in  a  shed." 

Only  a  trained  boxer  would  have  noted  the  "heels 
too  close  together."  And  the  "first  the  right,  then 
the  left,  and  again  the  right"  was  the  ripe  fruit  of 
those  athletic  days  in  "the  Gym"  at  Cambridge. 

Thus  he  lived  through  the  robust  experiences  of 
his  ranch  life.  He  was  an  exotic  in  this  land  of 
elemental  force,  yet  there  was  such  a  wide  reach 
in  his  nature  that  he  took  the  vigorous,  rigorous  ex 
periences  as  if  born  to  them.  And  throughout 
them  all,  underneath  the  outer,  exacting  routine  of 
the  day,  he  carried  on  an  interior  life  of  which  his 
hardy  companions  knew  little.  He  wrote  and  read 
much,  somewhat  to  their  perplexity.  If  he  had 


82       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

done  nothing  but  hold  a  book  and  a  pen  he  would 
have  stood  contemned  in  their  eyes.  But  he  shared 
the  zest  and  strain  of  the  hunt  and  the  round-up 
with  them  so  joyously  and  efficiently  that  he  com 
manded  their  respect.  And  his  frank,  warm  nature 
won  their  affection. 

And  who  of  that  group  on  the  Little  Missouri 
saw  and  consciously  felt  the  appeal  of  wild  rugged 
Nature  as  did  this  "exotic"  from  the  "effete  East!" 
In  his  "Wilderness  Hunter"  he  writes  sentences  of 
description  which  are  as  rich  in  color  and  as  tense 
in  feeling  as  ever  fervid  John  Ruskin  wrote  about 
pictures.  "The  visitor  to  these  scenes  shall  carry 
forever  in  his  mind  the  meaning  of  endless  prairies 
shimmering  in  the  bright  sunlight;  of  vast  snow- 
clad  wastes,  lying  desolate  under  gray  skies;  of  the 
melancholy  marshes ;  of  the  rush  of  mighty  rivers ; 
of  the  breath  of  the  evergreen  forest  in  summer; 
of  the  crooning  of  ice-armored  pines  at  the  touch  of 
the  winds  of  winter;  of  cataracts  roaring  between 
hoary  mountain  passes;  of  all  the  innumerable 
sights  and  sounds  of  the  wilderness,  and  of  the 
silences  that  brood  in  its  still  depths." 

That  sounds  like  John  Muir  at  his  best.  And 
what  passages  can  you  point  out  in  Homer  of 
keener,  closer  feeling  for  Nature  than  that? 

The  life  of  the  ranch,  by  its  contrast  with  the  life 
of  New  York  and  Albany,  and  especially  by  its 


"IN  COWBOY  LAND"  83 

subjective  remoteness  from  his  grief  and  loss  ac 
complished  what  he  had  desperately  hoped  it  would 
accomplish.  It  diverted  his  brooding  memories,  it 
summoned  him  from  his  sorrowful  reflections  to 
action,  observation,  and  physical  achievement.  Like 
Antaeus  of  old,  the  touch  of  Mother  Earth  renewed 
his  strength  and  vital  forces.  Thus  his  elastic 
nature  gradually  regained  something  of  its  normal 
poise. 

Yet  there  were  times  when  sad  memories  of  his 
happy  past  clouded  his  sky.  Faithful  Bill  Sewall 
says,  "He  was  melancholy  at  times.  And,  the  first 
year  on  the  ranch,  much  down  in  spirits.  He  told 
me,  one  day,  that  he  felt  as  if  it  did  not  make  any 
difference  what  became  of  him  —  he  had  nothing  to 
live  for."  Those  men  were  very  different  indeed 
from  each  other  in  temperament  and  training;  but 
the  human  bond  was  strong  between  them.  We 
smile  indulgently  as  Sewall  writes,  "We  were  very 
close  together,  in  those  days,  and  he  talked  over 
about  everything  with  me.  His  ideas  and  mine  al 
ways  seemed  to  run  about  the  same." 

Yet  the  days  were  not  all  clouded.  The  robust 
young  exile  from  Manhattan  varied  in  his  moods. 
Real  life  thrilled  him  always,  and  laughter  was  not 
wholly  estranged  from  him.  We  do  not  think  of 
Roosevelt  as  a  humorous  writer,  yet  he  wrote  with 
piquant  abandon  when  he  described  that  experience 


84       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

in  the  crowded  "hotel"  of  a  little  "cow  town"  of 
the  prairie.  He  stopped  his  horse  and  was  shown 
to  his  room.  It  contained  two  beds.  In  one  were 
two  men,  fast  asleep.  In  the  other  a  man  also 
asleep.  His  name  was  Bill  Jones.  The  narrative 
continued,  "I  turned  in  and  I  slept.  A  couple  of 
hours  later  I  was  awakened  by  the  door  being 
thrown  open  and  a  lantern  flashed  in  my  face,  the 
lantern  gleaming  on  the  muzzle  of  a  cocked  .45. 
Another  man  said  to  the  lantern-bearer,  'It  ain't 
him.'  The  next  moment  my  bedfellow  was  covered 
by  two  guns  and  addressed,  'Now,  Bill,  don't  make 
a  fuss,  but  come  along  quiet!'  'I'm  not  thinking 
of  making  a  fuss,'  said  Bill.  And  Bill  pulled  on 
his  trousers  and  boots  and  went  out  with  them.  Up 
to  this  time  there  had  been  not  a  sound  from  the 
other  bed.  Now  one  of  its  two  occupants  lighted 
a  candle  and  gazed  around  in  silence.  At  this 
point  I  committed  the  breach  of  etiquette  of  ask 
ing  questions.  'I  wonder  why  they  took  Bill,'  I 
said.  No  answer,  and  I  repeated,  'I  wonder  why 
they  took  Bill?'  'Well,'  said  the  man  with  the 
candle,  'I  reckon  they  wanted  him.'  And  with  that 
he  blew  out  the  candle  and  conversation  ceased. 
Later  I  learned  that  Bill,  in  a  fit  of  playfulness,  had 
held  up  the  Northern  Pacific  train  at  a  station  by 
shooting  at  the  feet  of  the  conductor  to  make  him 
dance.  This  was  purely  a  joke  on  Bill's  part;  but 


"IN  COWBOY  LAND"  85 

the  Northern  Pacific  people  possessed  a  less 
robust  sense  of  humor,  and  a  United  States  Mar 
shal  was  sent  to  arrest  Bill  for  delaying  the  mails." 

This  picturesque  period  of  Roosevelt's  life  was 
much  drawn  upon,  through  several  successive  years, 
by  the  cartoonists  of  the  press  and  magazines.  And 
he  was  represented  humorously  in  all  the  real  and 
fancied  positions  incidental  to  life  on  a  cattle  ranch. 
But  in  that  actual  experience,  while  he  appreciated 
the  comic  elements,  he  was  aware  that  he  was  dwell 
ing  amid  elemental  and  savage  forces  where  a 
mistake  might  bring  him  to  his  death  or  into  hope 
less  disgrace. 

Take  that  incident  —  in  two  parts  —  which  his 
friend  Bill  Sewall  recounts  with  artless  brevity.  It 
reads  like  a  tale  from  Plutarch.  "While  Roose 
velt  was  away  on  this  hunting  trip,  we  heard  that  a 
bad  man  on  a  nearby  ranch  had  said  he  would  shoot 
Roosevelt  at  sight.  I  told  Theodore  about  it,  when 
he  came  back.  He  said,  'Is  that  so?'  Then  he 
rode  straight  over  to  the  shack  where  the  man  lived 
and  told  him  he  had  heard  that  a  man  intended  to 
shoot  him.  'And,'  said  Theodore,  'I  want  to  know 
why.'  The  man  was  flabbergasted  and  denied  that 
he  had  ever  said  anything  of  the  sort.  He  said  he 
had  been  misquoted.  The  affair  passed  off  pleas 
antly,  and  he  and  Roosevelt  were  good  friends 
after  that." 


86       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

That  is  the  first  half  of  the  story.  Here  is  the 
second.  That  same  "bad  man"  lived  on  the  ranch 
of  a  Marquis  de  Mores.  And  the  Marquis,  irri 
tated  by  some  fancied  slight,  sent  Roosevelt  a  letter 
which  hinted  at  a  challenge  to  a  duel.  "The  chal 
lenge  did  not  actually  come,"  explains  Sewall,  "but 
Roosevelt  expected  it.  And  he  said  that  although 
he  did  not  believe  in  duelling,  he  would  accept  it  if 
it  came;  he  would  not  be  bullied.  As  the  person 
challenged,  he  said,  he  had  the  right  to  choose 
the  weapons.  And  he  would  choose  Winchester 
rifles,  at  a  distance  of  twelve  paces.  'I'm  not  a  very 
good  shot,'  he  said,  'and  I  want  to  be  near  enough  to 
hit.'  The  two  principals  were  to  'shoot  and  keep 
on  advancing  —  until  one  or  the  other  was  satis 
fied.'" 

It  would  seem  that  with  Winchesters,  at  twelve 
paces,  "satisfaction"  would  soon  be  reached. 

Always  Roosevelt  had  believed  in  "the  square 
deal",  long  before  he  had  so  formulated  the  idea, 
even  back  in  the  days  of  his  Sunday-school  class 
when  he  had  rewarded  the  small  boy  who  had  re 
sented  the  stealing  of  his  marbles.  And  now,  at 
Medora,  when  three  lawless  tramps  stole  his  boat 
on  the  river,  promptly  and  tirelessly  he  set  about 
retribution  and  recovery.  Although  his  fellow 
ranchmen  advised  him  not  to  undertake  a  well-nigh 
hopeless  chase,  he  persisted.  With  two  other  men 


"IN  COWBOY  LAND"  87 

he  went  down  the  river  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles, 
dangerous  in  places;  and  after  three  days  of  swift 
pursuit  he  overtook  the  thieves,  recovered  his  prop 
erty,  and  brought  back  the  men  to  serve  a  term  in 
jail. 

There  was  always  a  tenacity  of  purpose  in  Roose 
velt  which  surprised  observers  who  saw  for  the  first 
time  his  brilliancy  and  alertness.  He  had  an  unsus 
pected  capacity  for  "following  through",  as  the 
golf  phrase  is.  He  combined  the  quick,  eager  snap 
of  the  terrier  with  the  hold-on  grip  of  the  bulldog. 

When  Roosevelt  was  in  Paris  many  years  after 
ward,  he  made  an  address  before  the  Sorbonne. 
And  with  a  shrewd  sense  of  what  would  be  novel 
and  picturesque  to  his  listeners,  he  gave  this  bit  of 
reminiscence  of  his  ranch  life.  "In  the  cattle  coun 
try  a  'maverick'  was  an  unbranded  yearling.  The 
custom  was  for  mavericks  to  be  branded  with  the 
brand  of  the  man  on  whose  range  they  were  found. 
I  had  recently  hired  a  new  cowboy  and  we  were 
out  looking  up  our  cattle.  We  found  a  maverick, 
roped  it,  threw  it,  and  my  new  cowboy  started  to 
brand  it.  Then  I  noticed  that  he  was  putting  on 
my  brand;  and  I  said,  'That  animal  should  not 
have  my  brand ;  we  are  on  J  -  -'s  range.  The 
man  replied,  'I  know  my  business.  I  always  put 
on  my  boss's  brand/  I  replied,  'Is  that  so?  Well, 
you  stop  that  and  go  back  to  our  ranch-house  and 


88       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

get  your  pay  up  to  now.  I  don't  need  you  any 
longer.'  The  man  was  astonished,  and  exclaimed, 
'Why,  what's  the  matter?  I'm  putting  on  your 
brand.'  At  that  I  answered,  'Yes,  my  friend,  and 
if  you  would  steal  for  me,  you  would  steal  from 


me.' 


That  was  not  idealism  in  ethics;  but  it  prob 
ably  appealed  to  the  elemental  nature  of  the  man 
with  convincing  force.  Roosevelt  knew  his  man. 
He  was  remarkably  quick  at  getting  the  unwritten 
standards  of  the  new  country  clearly  into  his  mind. 

One  would  scarcely  think  of  him  as  needing  to 
learn  tact,  in  this  raw  and  apparently  unconven 
tional  life  of  the  cattle  ranges,  but  he  recognized 
that  need  and  learned  his  lesson.  He  found  that 
among  cowboys  and  "wranglers"  and  ranchers 
there  were  social  conventions,  although  these  dif 
fered  somewhat  from  the  code  of  Fifth  Avenue, 
New  York.  He  says,  in  his  "Autobiography",  "My 
experience  was  that  if  a  new  man  did  not  talk  until 
his  associates  knew  him  and  liked  him,  and  if  he  did 
his  work,  he  would  get  on.  .  .  .  When  I  went 
among  strangers  I  always  had  to  spend  twenty- 
four  hours  in  living  down  the  fact  that  I  wore  spec 
tacles,  remaining  judiciously  deaf  to  any  side  re 
marks  about  'Four  Eyes'  and  the  like.  ...  I  made 
use  of  that  diplomacy,  among  new  men,  which  con- 


"IN  COWBOY  LAND"  89 

sisted  in  not  uttering  one  word  that  could  be 
avoided." 

Not  very  easy,  that,  for  a  young  man  of  Roose 
velt's  free,  facile  tongue  and  eager  expression.  As 
a  student  at  Harvard  he  was  not  noted  for  his  tact, 
quite  as  we  would  expect  from  a  young  fellow  of 
his  sincere,  enthusiastic  nature.  I  like  him  the 
better  for  that.  A  college  student  who  is  con 
spicuously  tactful  at  the  age  of  —  say,  twenty,  is 
tactful  probably  because  he  lacks  the  warm  im 
pulses  which  characterize  normal  youth,  or  he  has 
been  overtrained  already. 

One  of  the  most  delightful  revelations  of  Roose 
velt's  tact  and  humor  blended  is  given  in  the  words 
of  Sewall.  "Theodore  was  out  riding  one  day  and 
stopped  for  luncheon  at  the  house  of  a  woman  who 
was  a  good  deal  of  a  character.  She  was  living 
with  the  man  who  had  shot  her  husband.  Theodore 
sat  down  in  a  corner  to  read  a  book.  He  always 
carried  one  with  him.  His  legs  were  stretched  out, 
and  the  woman,  getting  his  dinner,  stumbled  over 
them.  Then  she  exclaimed  that  he'd  better  move 
his  damned  feet.  He  complied,  and  remarked  that 
he  thought  it  was  a  perfectly  proper  thing  for  a 
lady  to  ask  a  gentleman  to  move,  but  that  he  had 
never  happened  to  hear  it  put  that  way  before." 

In  his  mature  life,  Roosevelt  evinced  a  reason 
able  amount  of  tact,  but  it  was  an  acquired  taste. 


90       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

What  he  did  have  naturally  was  that  kernel  of 
which  tact  is  the  outer  husk,  namely,  sympathy. 
Walt  Whitman  said  the  truest  word  that  I  have 
ever  heard  about  sympathy.  Recalling  his  serv 
ice  in  the  hospital  during  the  Civil  War,  he  said,  "I 
did  not  pity  the  wounded  soldier,  I  became  the 
wounded  soldier."  And  by  that  high  standard 
Theodore  Roosevelt  was  sympathetic.  That  was 
why  he  was  loved,  in  his  time,  as  no  other  man  in 
the  United  States  ever  was  loved.  That  was  the 
significant,  subtle  explanation  of  the  humorous 
story,  often  told,  regarding  the  "Cow-Puncher 
Rough  Rider's"  explanation  of  the  way  in  which 
he  had  shot  a  man.  "Why,  Colonel,  I  had  a  diffi 
culty  with  a  gentleman,  and  —  er  —  well,  I  killed 
the  gentleman."  "But  how  did  it  happen?  How 
did  you  do  it?"  The  ex-puncher  mistook  the  mean 
ing  of  the  question  and  replied,  "With  a  .38  on  a  .45 
frame,  Colonel."  So  intimately  had  Roosevelt 
shared  that  turbulent  border  life,  so  sympatheti 
cally  had  he  entered  into  and  maintained  the  stan 
dards  of  his  ranch  friends,  that  this  culprit  thought 
of  him  as  being  interested  solely  in  the  weapon,  the 
physical  means  by  which  the  criminal  deed  had 
been  accomplished. 

One  of  Roosevelt's  partners  in  the  ranching  en 
terprise  on  the  Little  Missouri  was  a  man  named 
Merrifield.  He  has  given  us  several  interesting 


"IN  COWBOY  LAND"  91 

reminiscences  —  quite    "inside    information"  —  of 
the  stern,  rugged,  daily  ranch  life. 

"The  first  night  of  the  round-up  Roosevelt  said 
to  me,  'Now,  Merrifield,  I've  learned  to  night-herd, 
and  you  and  I  will  take  the  trick  from  ten  to  twelve 
o'clock.'  I  had  never  night-herded  myself,  so  that 
night  Roosevelt  taught  me,  and  every  night  after, 
for  three  weeks,  he  and  I  stood  night-herd  together, 
riding  round  and  round  the  herd  under  the  stars, 
humming  some  monotonous  old  song  to  the  cattle, 
to  sort  of  settle  their  minds  for  the  night. 

"Roosevelt  showed  up  for  the  man  that  he  was 
on  that  round-up.  It  was  hard  work,  even  for 
seasoned  hands.  You  never  get  enough  sleep  on  a 
round-up  for  one  thing,  and  I  remember  men  who 
had  lived  in  the  saddle  for  years  getting  so  fagged 
that  they  were  ready  to  drop.  But  Roosevelt  was 
always  among  the  last  to  go  to  bed  at  night  and 
the  first  to  get  up  in  the  morning.  He  asked  no 
favors.  When  he  joined  the  round-up,  bringing 
his  own  string  of  ten  horses,  he  told  Three- Seven 
Bill  Jones  that  he  expected  to  be  treated  just  like 
the  other  cow-punchers. 

6  'I  want  to  work  with  the  wagon  as  a  rider,'  he 
said,  'and  I  want  no  favors  shown  me.  For  the 
time  being  I  am  the  same  as  any  of  the  men,  and  I 
want  to  do  the  same  work  as  any  of  them.'  He 
wanted  'no  favors',  he  said,  and  I  can  say  that  he 


92       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

got  none.  Favors  were  not  being  handed  about  on 
a  round-up  those  days." 

Merrifield  gives  one  incident  which  reveals 
Roosevelt's  stoical  self-control  under  pain.  "In  his 
string  of  ten  horses  he  had  one  mean  brute  named 
Ben  Butler.  Several  of  his  horses  bucked  on  occa 
sion,  but  Ben  Butler  had  the  trick  of  falling  over 
backwards.  One  afternoon  as  Roosevelt  was  start 
ing  out  on  'the  circle',  the  horse  fell  over  with  him, 
and  Roosevelt  broke  the  point  of  his  shoulder. 
There  was  no  doctor  within  a  hundred  miles  and 
Roosevelt  knew  it.  The  break  must  have  hurt  him 
badly,  but  he  didn't  say  a  word  about  it,  but  just 
got  on  another  horse  and  went  on  with  the  day's 
work.  He  didn't  speak  of  it  again  and  the  rest  of 
us  forgot  about  it.  The  break  healed  up  itself.  It 
wasn't  until  about  a  year  after  that  I  realized  what 
he  must  have  suffered. 

"It  happened  that  I  broke  my  ankle  that  winter 
and  was  unable  to  ride  for  five  or  six  months.  Then, 
having  bought  some  cattle,  and  Sylvane  and  the 
other  cowmen  being  away  on  a  round-up,  I  had  to 
take  them  out  to  ranch.  The  river  was  up  and  I 
had  to  do  a  good  deal  of  riding.  The  second  morn 
ing  it  was  pretty  hard;  the  third  morning  it  was 
something  terrible.  No  human  being  who  hasn't 
gone  through  it  can  imagine  what  it  is.  I  was  en- 


«IN  COWBOY  LAND"  93 

tirely  used  up.  That  time  Roosevelt  got  hurt  I 
didn't  realize  what  he  was  up  against. 

"And  he  wasn't  the  one  to  tell  me.  He  was  grit 
clear  through.  I  was  used  to  rough  living  and  it 
never  occurred  to  me  that  I  might  be  putting  a 
strain  on  him  which  took  all  the  grit  he  had  to  carry. 
When  we  got  back  from  the  round-up  that  spring, 
with  his  shoulder  scarcely  healed,  I  didn't  think 
anything  of  putting  him  on  a  horse  for  forty  to 
sixty  miles  a  day.  We'd  ride  up  to  the  ranch  of  a 
man  named  Gregor  Lang,  some  fifty  miles  up  the 
river,  up  one  day  and  back  again  the  next.  Then 
when  we'd  had  our  supper  I'd  say  to  him,  'How 
about  going  out  and  getting  a  deer?' 

"He'd  say,  'All  right!'  So  we'd  get  fresh  horses 
and  start  out  to  kill  a  deer. 

"After  I  had  broken  my  ankle  and  had  my  les 
son,  I  apologized  to  him  for  putting  him  up  against 
such  a  foolish  proposition.  He  laughed.  'Merri- 
field/  he  said,  'when  you'd  bring  out  that  fresh 
horse  for  me  to  ride,  if  I'd  had  my  preference  in  the 
matter  I'd  rather  have  ridden  a  red-hot  stove  than 
one  of  those  horses.' ' 

In  college,  Roosevelt  always  had  a  great  deal  of 
that  something  which  we  call  "influence."  His 
opinion  or  wish  counted.  On  the  plains  it  was  the 
same,  even  among  men  who  naturally  and  at  firsl 
viewed  him  with  surprise  and  distrust. 


94       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

"One  night,"  says  Merrifield,  "we  were  camped 
at  Andrew's  Creek,  just  across  the  Little  Missouri 
from  Medora,  and  all  the  boys  of  our  outfit  and 
most  of  the  other  cow-punchers  in  the  round-up 
rode  into  town  and  got  to  drinking.  Roosevelt  rode 
to  town  himself  later  in  the  evening  and  about 
eleven  o'clock  stepped  into  Tom  Slack's  saloon. 
The  place  was  crowded  with  the  boys  and  they 
were  pretty  noisy,  having  had  about  all  they  could 
carry,  and  beginning  to  get  careless  with  their 
guns.  Roosevelt  greeted  them  and  said,  'One  more 
drink,  boys,'  and  going  to  the  bar  set  up  the 
drinks  for  the  crowd,  though  he  never  drank  him 
self.  Then  when  the  men  had  their  drinks  he  says, 
'Come  on,  now,  let's  go,'  and  went  out,  and  the 
boys  trooped  out  after  him  like  so  many  children." 

The  ranching  enterprise  at  Medora  did  not  yield 
financial  success.  A  cold  winter  came  on  and  Sew- 
all  estimated  that  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  stock  per 
ished.  But  the  outdoor  life,  the  entire  change  of 
scene,  had  done  what  Roosevelt  had  hoped  for.  It 
had  blunted  the  sharp  edges  of  his  grief  and  made 
life  tolerable  and  even  desirable. 

At  about  this  time  —  the  early  autumn  of  1886  — 
Roosevelt  was  one  day  chatting  intimately  with  his 
friend,  Sewall.  And  he  told  Sewall  that  he  was 
going  back  East  "to  see  about  a  job  that  had  been 


"IN  COWBOY  LAND"  95 

offered  him.    He  said  it  was  a  job  he  did  not  want. 
It  would  keep  him  in  a  row  all  the  time." 

And  Sewall  adds,  "I  heard,  afterward,  that 
what  he  referred  to  was  the  nomination  for  mayor 
of  New  York." 

Roosevelt  had  made  several  short  visits  to  New 
York  during  this  ranching  period.  On  one  of  these 
brief  visits  he  wrote  the  characteristic  letter  which 
I  here  give,  taking  it  from  Mr.  Joseph  B.  Bishop's 
exhaustive  and  authoritative  "Theodore  Roosevelt 
and  His  Time." 

First,  a  sharp  querulous  letter  to  Roosevelt  from 
Jefferson  Davis,  whilom  president  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy. 

Beauvain,  Miss. 

Sept.  29,  1885. 
Mr.  Theodore  Roosevelt, 

New  York,  New  York. 
Sir: 

You  have  recently  chosen  publicly  to  associate 
the  name  of  Benedict  Arnold  with  that  of  Jeffer 
son  Davis,  as  the  only  American  with  whom  the 
traitor  Arnold  need  not  fear  comparison.  You 
must  be  ignorant  indeed  of  American  history  if 
you  do  not  know  that  the  career  of  those  characters 
might  be  aptly  chosen  for  contrast,  but  not  for 
similitude;  and  if  so  ignorant,  the  instinct  of  a 
gentleman,  had  you  possessed  it,  must  have  caused 
you  to  make  inquiry  before  uttering  an  accusation 
so  libelous  and  false.  I  write  to  you  directly  to 
repel  the  unproved  outrage,  but  with  too  low  an 


96       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

estimate  of  you  to  expect  an  honorable  retraction 
of  your  slander. 

Yours,  etc., 
(Signed)   Jefferson  Davis. 

The  letter  was  the  choleric  outburst,  useless  and 
ill-advised,  of  a  disappointed,  nerve-worn  old  man; 
Mr.  Davis  was  then  seventy-seven  years  old. 
Doubtless  Roosevelt  should  not  have  said  what  he 
had  evidently  been  reported  as  saying.  But,  on  re 
ceiving  Mr.  Davis's  letter,  he  sent  this  reply,  char 
acteristic  of  his  instinct  to  strike  back  at  any  man 
who  struck  or  tried  to  strike  him. 

New  York,  October  8, 1885. 
Mr.  Theodore  Roosevelt  is  .in  receipt  of  a  letter 
purporting  to  come  from  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis, 
and  denying  that  the  character  of  Mr.  Davis  com 
pares  unfavorably  with  that  of  Benedict  Arnold. 
Assuming  the  letter  to  be  genuine,  Mr.  Roosevelt 
has  only  to  say  that  he  would  be  surprised  to  find 
that  his  views  of  the  character  of  Mr.  Davis  did 
not  differ  from  that  apparently  entertained  in 
relation  thereto  by  Mr.  Davis  himself.  Mr.  Roose 
velt  begs  leave  to  add  that  he  does  not  deem  it 
necessary  that  there  should  be  any  further  com 
munication  whatever  between  himself  and  Mr. 
Davis. 

I  note  the  delightful  third  person  in  which  my 
angry  young  classmate's  reply  was  couched.  But 
if  Roosevelt  had  been  older  and  Mr.  Davis  had 
been  younger,  neither  would  have  written. 


CHAPTER  VII 

VICTORS  AND  SPOILS 

William  Sewall  was  correct  in  his  surmise  that 
his  beloved  "Boss"  was  returning  to  New  York  to 
accept  a  nomination  for  the  mayoralty.  That  was 
early  in  the  autumn  of  1886.  When  Roosevelt  told 
Sewall  that  the  job  which  awaited  him  would  keep 
him  in  a  row  all  the  time  and  that  he  did  not 
like  it,  I  think  that  he  told  only  half  of  what  he  felt. 
In  a  sense  he  may  have  dreaded  the  strife  and 
struggle  of  the  impending  campaign,  but  in  a 
larger,  more  lasting  sense  he  enjoyed  the  prospect 
of  entering  it. 

The  quality  in  him  which  I  find  most  difficult  of 
analysis  —  both  by  my  own  study  and  by  consulta 
tion  with  my  friends  and  his  friends  —  is  his  aston 
ishing  energy,  expressed  both  physically  and  men 
tally.  I  cannot  account  for  it  fully,  either  by  known 
laws  of  heredity  or  by  the  fact  that  he  persistently 
and  intelligently  built  up  and  repaired  and  rebuilt 
his  physical  as  well  as  his  intellectual  equipment 
all  through  his  life.  The  fact  that  he  was  a  very 
sound  sleeper  —  as  he  has  assured  me  — will  ac- 


98       ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

count,  at  least  in  part,  for  his  wonderful  resources 
of  nervous  strength.  But  these  explanations  do 
not  fully  explain.  He  was  exceptional  in  his  eager, 
tireless  vigor,  mental  and  physical. 

Therefore,  when  the  call  to  righteous,  patriotic 
combat  in  the  municipal  arena  of  New  York  came 
to  him,  I  know  that  he  welcomed  it.  Here  was 
his  opportunity  for  action,  and  for  action  which 
would  be  on  the  side  of  reform  and  righteousness. 
He  welcomed  it  confidently,  out  of  the  full 
stores  of  his  strength,  as  the  thoroughly  trained 
pugilist  welcomes  his  adversary  in  the  ring,  or  the 
well-equipped  legal  advocate  welcomes  the  district 
attorney.  For  the  pugilist  "in  the  pink  of  condi 
tion"  and  the  court  advocate  armed  at  all  legal 
points  are  more  fully  themselves  than  at  any  other 
time  in  their  lives.  And  contest,  combat,  becomes  a 


A  story  told  by  Mrs.  Corinne  Roosevelt  Robin 
son  regarding  her  brother  illustrates  the  joy  in 
combat  of  this  "Happy  Warrior."  She  recalls  his 
"first  public  speech  in  New  York."  It  was  a  form 
of  debate  at  the  Union  Club.  Roosevelt  spoke 
first,  and  upon  Americanism.  He  was  followed  by 
St.  Clair  McKelway,  who  sought  to  play  with  this 
new  unknown  young  man,  cat-and-mouse  fashion. 
He  spoke  jeeringly  yet  skillfully  of  Roosevelt's 
"isms."  Applause  from  the  audience  punctuated 


VICTORS  AND  SPOILS  99 

his  sentences.  Mrs.  Robinson  —  then  in  her  teens 
—  grew  anxious,  because  her  brother  was  expected 
to  reply.  For  a  short  time,  as  she  glanced  at  him, 
his  countenance  was  grave  and  even  anxious.  Then 
she  saw  his  unique  smile  come  to  his  face  and  a 
gleam  to  his  eyes,  and  she  knew  that  he  was  eager 
to  get  to  his  feet.  This  he  did  in  due  time,  and 
began  vigorously,  confidently,  joyously,  "I  do  not 
need  ten  minutes  for  my  reply.  I  need  no  more 
than  one.  I  call  to  the  gentleman's  attention  one 
'ism'  very  dear  to  me  and  much  overlooked,  here 
and  elsewhere,  by  him.  I  mean  patriot-ism."  And 
he  poured  out  a  flood  of  impassioned  and  even  per 
sonal  arraignment  which  brought  a  storm  of  ap 
plause  from  the  company  present  and  considerably 
disconcerted  the  indiscreet  journalist  who  had  in 
advertently  brought  this  onslaught  upon  his  own 
head. 

In  an  hour  like  that,  Roosevelt  was*  most  truly 
himself  intellectually,  morally;  quite  as  he  was 
most  truly  himself  physically,  when  he  faced  and 
killed  that  savage  grizzly  bear,  in  1889,  on  the  west 
ern  side  of  the  Yellowstone  Park,  Idaho. 

So  I  feel  sure  that  Roosevelt  went  back  to  the 
complexity  of  New  York  life  and  to  its  relentless 
rivalries  and  deadly  conflicts  with  a  glad  smile  and 
an  eager  spirit.  But,  as  it  happened,  the  strife 
upon  which  he  entered  was  brief,  abortive. 


100     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

The  political  group  which  had  nominated  him 
was  composed  of  independents  and  Republicans 
who  sought  to  defeat  the  Democratic  party,  locally 
known  as  "Tammany",  and  portrayed  in  popular 
cartoons  as  a  tiger.  Tammany,  made  anxious  by 
the  opposition,  had  nominated  an  excellent  man, 
Abram  Hewitt.  And  this  man's  popularity  was  so 
great  that  struggle  against  him  was  doomed  to 
failure.  Nevertheless  Roosevelt  went  into  the  con 
test  with  zeal  and  doubtless  enjoyed  the  strenuous 
days  and  nights,  even  though  he  failed  of  election. 

He  was  not  seriously  discouraged,  however,  and 
he  had  recovered,  in  the  main,  his  full  vigor  of 
body  and  normal  poise  of  mind  and  spirit,  so  im 
paired  by  his  great  sorrow.  And  he  now  gave  his 
attention  to  his  literary  work.  Also  he  went  across 
the  ocean  to  England,  where,  on  December  second, 
at  St.  George's,  London,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Edith  Kermit  Carow,  who  had  been  his  playmate  in 
childhood. 

The  two  had  been  firm  friends  through  the  years. 
She  and  Theodore  and  Corinne  Roosevelt  had 
joined  in  games  and  excursions  many  times;  and 
when  in  Europe,  at  the  age  of  eleven,  he  had  written 
to  her  —  with  slightly  defective  orthography  - 
telling  her  that  she  was  his  most  faithful  corre 
spondent.  In  his  diary  of  that  juvenile  period  he 
records,  "In  the  evening  Mamma  showed  me  a  pic- 


VICTORS  AND  SPOILS  _ 

ture  of  Edith  Carow  and  it  stirred  up  in  me  home 
sickness  and  longings  for  the  past." 

This  marriage  was  a  happy  union  of  hearts  and 
harmony  of  temperaments  which  bore  nobly,  richly, 
through  all  the  years,  the  tests  that  come  to  all 
married  lives.  Most  happy  marriages  are  based 
upon  a  divergence  of  temperaments  and  a  com 
munity  of  character.  Throughout  their  united  life 
Mrs.  Roosevelt  was  the  calming,  steadying  force 
and  he  was  the  originating,  resourceful  leader.  She 
gave  a  ready  and  sympathetic  ear  to  his  numberless 
plans  and  helped  him  to  a  wise  selection  among 
them. 

After  remaining  several  months  in  Europe,  the 
two  returned  to  the  United  States  and  settled  in 
the  house  which  he  had  built  at  Sagamore  Hill, 
Oyster  Bay,  Long  Island.  This  was  destined  to 
be  their  home,  the  scene  of  their  happy  family  life, 
throughout  their  length  of  united  days.  It  was 
within  an  hour's  railroad  journey  of  New  York 
City,  and  it  afforded  all  the  opportunities  for  that 
outdoor  life,  on  land  and  water,  which  Roosevelt 
and  all  his  family  loved  so  well. 

Here  he  now  set  about  literary  work.  Through 
pen  and  paper  he  gained  that  expression  of  his 
nature  which  he  craved,  in  a  remarkable  degree. 
It  was  inevitable  that  he  should  put  into  writing 
the  experiences  and  reflections  which  had  been  his 


:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

on  the  wide  plains  of.  the  West.  He  had  already 
published  his  "History  of  the  Naval  War  of  1812", 
a  purely  academic  work,  yet  more  than  a  rearrange 
ment  of  facts  already  printed  by  other  writers.  In 
it  his  eager  demand  for  truth  asserted  itself,  and 
the  book  was  a  real  contribution  to  the  impartial 
estimate  of  values  in  that  contest  between  the  too 
dominating  mother-country  and  her  assertive,  sen 
sitive  daughter. 

Roosevelt's  "Winning  of  the  West"  grew  di 
rectly  out  of  his  personal  acquaintance  with  fron 
tier  life,  its  lack  of  the  embroideries  of  highly  civil 
ized  life,  and  its  possession  of  the  elemental,  human 
virtues.  His  books  of  travel  and  adventure  were 
simple,  vivid  narratives  of  what  he  had  personally 
seen  and  experienced.  And  his  public  addresses, 
put  into  book  form,  are  really  in  the  same  class, 
psychologically,  as  these.  For  they  were  records 
of  what  he  had  observed  in  that  human  world  which 
often  becomes  a  jungle  of  warring  animals,  so 
fierce  are  its  competitions.  Records  of  warfare, 
attack  and  defense,  with  comments  upon  them,  de 
ductions  from  them  with  advice  and  guidance  for 
future,  similar  conditions.  Righteous  struggle, 
moral  warfare,  Roosevelt  always  welcomed. 

When  I  look  over  the  long  list  of  his  published 
books,  two  points  strike  me.  First  I  wonder  that 
he  could  so  curb  his  physical  activity  as  to 


VICTORS  AND  SPOILS  103 

sit  still  at  a  desk  and  write  them  all.  Yet 
they  were  but  a  manifestation  of  his  energy,  of 
his  "self-expression",  as  the  phrase  now  runs.  And 
second,  looking  at  the  titles  alone,  a  discerning 
critic  can  see  that  they  are  not  the  product  of  a 
purely  literary  man,  but  the  by-product  of  a  man 
of  affairs.  Action,  action,  action  was  the  keynote 
of  his  life.  He  wrote  little  or  no  fiction.  He 
never  strayed  far  from  facts,  with  inferences 
from  those  facts.  His  biographical  and  historical 
work  was  his  least  characteristic  literary  output. 
It  was  academic  and  it  could  have  been  written 
by  any  one  of  hundreds  of  people  about  him.  But 
his  "action-literature"  in  field  and  forest  and  in 
the  arena  of  human  affairs  —  this  distinctive  and 
perspicacious,  quite  beyond  the  ordinary. 

Then,  back  of  all  that  he  wrote  was  his  person 
ality,  We  glimpse  it  in  his  written  words,  but  it 
found  full  expression  only  in  personal  intercourse 
and  public  addresses.  It  is  this  dynamic  person 
ality  which  will  be  the  perplexing  problem  of  his 
torians  and  biographers  yet  unborn. 

This  personality  he  threw  into  the  great  burden 
some,  discouraging  work  which  President  Harri 
son  laid  upon  him,  in  1889.  He  was  made  one  of 
three  Civil  Service  Commissioners.  He  had  learned 
by  his  experience  in  the  Assembly  at  Albany  that  a 
reformer  cannot  reform  —  alone,  He  must  work 


104     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

with  and  through  other  people.  Accordingly, 
young  in  years  yet  with  the  tried  temper  of  a 
veteran,  he  went  into  the  arduous,  unpopular  field 
of  Civil  Service  Reform.  If  President  Harrison 
had  desired  to  "shelve"  him,  as  Thomas  Platt  did 
later,  he  could  have  hit  upon  no  field  for  him  which 
would  appear  to  bring  him  more  enemies  and  more 
shut  him  off  from  political  preferment.  But  this 
was  not  Harrison's  intent.  Roosevelt  had  stood  for 
him  in  his  campaign,  and  the  President  simply  gave 
him  difficult  work  because  he  believed  that  he  could 
do  that  work. 

President  Harrison  probably  had  some  qualms 
of  distrust  and  anxiety  as  his  zealous  young  ap 
pointee  pushed  his  reforming  personality  into  un 
expected  strongholds  of  privilege.  Many  years 
later,  at  a  meeting  in  New  York,  he  facetiously 
introduced  Roosevelt  —  then  governor  of  the  State 
—  as  a  man  who  had  seemed,  at  times,  "somewhat 
impatient  for  righteousness." 

So  Roosevelt,  in  the  spring  of  1889,  opened  an 
office  at  Washington  and  laid  his  plans  for  an 
arduous  campaign  of  most  unpopular  reform.  Then 
in  September  he  went  West  to  "take  a  hack  at  the 
bears  in  the  Rockies",  as  he  wrote  his  sister.  It 
was  one  of  those  avocations,  a  hunting  trip,  which 
he  intelligently  and  regularly  prescribed  for  him 
self  as  a  physical  and  mental  tonic.  It  was  an  in- 


VICTORS  AND  SPOILS  105 

terlude  in  his  political  routine  which,  because  of 
two  extreme  perils  which  he  incurred,  nearly 
became  his  postlude. 

His  guide,  on  this  trip  into  Idaho,  was  a  skillful 
but  lawless  old  hunter  named  Hank  Griffin.  He 
could  scent  game  afar  but  the  odor  of  whisky  more 
appealed  to  him.  Roosevelt  carried,  for  an  emer 
gency,  a  flask  of  whisky.  Griffin  got  possession 
of  this  flask  secretly,  and  became  cross  and  unruly. 
And  one  day  the  situation  was  this :  Roosevelt  had 
said  that  he  would  take  one  of  the  horses  and  go 
on  the  hunt  without  Griffin.  Then  Griffin,  seated 
with  his  cocked  rifle  across  his  knees,  and  grinning 
derisively,  declared  that  he  would  shoot  his  boss  if 
the  horse  were  taken.  And  he  probably  would 
have  done  it. 

The  situation  had  reached  an  acute  stage.  But 
Roosevelt  met  it  with  sagacity  and  efficiency.  He 
pretended  to  acquiesce  in  his  guide's  ruling  and 
moved  about  the  camp,  gathering  materials  for  his 
departure  on  foot.  Presently  he  got  within  reach 
of  his  own  rifle,  seized  it,  pointed  it  at  the  drunken 
ruffian  and  told  him  to  put  up  his  hands.  This  was 
done,  the  guide,  however,  protesting  that  he  had 
only  been  joking.  But  the  young  Commissioner 
took  no  chances  and  made  Griffin  separate  himself 
from  his  gun.  The  rest  was  easy.  Roosevelt,  with 


106     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

a  horse,  got  away  from  the  camp  and  returned  to 
the  settlement. 

On  that  journey  back  came  the  second  deadly 
peril,  this  time  from  an  enraged  grizzly  bear.  He 
said  of  it,  long  afterward,  that  it  was  the  most 
imminent  of  all  the  perils  of  his  hunting  life.  The 
bear,  after  being  wounded,  charged  him.  Roose 
velt  shot  again,  at  extremely  close  range,  and  killed 
him.  But  the  animal,  in  his  charge,  passed  him  as 
he  sprang  aside,  and  the  big  forepaw  swept  within 
a  few  inches  of  the  young  hunter's  face. 

This  was  the  kind  of  diversion  which  Commis 
sioner  Roosevelt  enjoyed  in  that  autumn  of  1889. 
And  he  was  now  back  in  another  kind  of  conflict, 
almost  as  perilous.  In  seeking  to  establish  the 
merit  system  of  appointments  to  Federal  offices,  the 
Commission  —  of  which  John  R.  Proctor  was  the 
nominal  head  —  was  daring  to  stem  a  tide  of  prece 
dent  and  custom  which  had  come  down,  in  all  politi 
cal  parties,  since  the  days  of  Andrew  Jackson.  "To 
the  victors  belong  the  spoils"  was  an  axiom  at 
Washington.  It  was  the  same  vicious  "putting  of 
the  cart  before  the  horse"  which  can  be  seen  to 
day  in  the  school  appointments  of  most  of  our 
towns  and  cities.  "Give  the  residents  of  our  own 
town  the  positions  as  teachers!"  demand  the  voters, 
and  the  school  committees  follow  that  suggestion. 
No  thought  of  the  capacity  of  the  teacher  or  of  the 


VICTORS  AND  SPOILS  107 

needs  of  the  pupils.  The  teacherships  are  regarded 
as  rewards. 

That  was  the  almost  universal  rule  of  political 
appointment,  when  Roosevelt,  like  another  Her 
cules,  set  himself  to  clean  out  the  Augean  stables 
of  Federal  officialdom.  Vice-president  Hendricks, 
in  1884,  put  the  patronage  principle  in  a  pic 
turesque  form.  "We  must  take  the  boys  in  out  of 
the  cold,  to  warm  their  toes."  The  Cleveland  and 
Hendricks  administration  being  a  Democratic  af 
fair,  and  the  first  for  twenty-four  years,  there  was 
doubtless  considerable  eagerness  on  the  part  of 
"workers"  to  get  close  to  the  fire.  Although  he 
was  not  the  nominal  head  of  the  much-hated  Com 
mission,  Roosevelt  speedily  became  its  leading 
member.  Later  in  life,  when  asked  about  the  fac 
tor  of  luck  in  his  career,  he  said  that  some  things 
did  happen  and  some  did  not.  "For  my  own  part," 
he  added,  "I  have  tried  to  put  myself  where  things 
were  likely  to  happen."  And  in  that  bit  of  com 
mon-sense  philosopy  he  gave  the  only  practical 
solution  I  have  ever  heard  given  to  the  academic 
problem  of  free  will. 

In  no  period  of  his  stormy  career  did  Roosevelt 
have  as  mountainous  a  wall  of  opposition  to  sur 
mount  as  in  his  Civil  Service  days,  and  with  much 
less  background  of  prestige  than  in  later  reforms. 
As  we  survey  his  Titanic  efforts  of  that  period,  we 


108     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

feel  a  momentary  thrill  of  pity.  But  that  thrill  is 
quenched  speedily  as  we  remember  —  and  must  al 
ways  keep  in  mind,  in  any  analysis  of  his  character 
and  successes  and  failures  —  that  he  dearly  loved 
combat.  Be  it  with  a  grizzly  bear  or  a  border  ruf 
fian  or  entrenched  political  power,  he  was  happy 
when  fighting,  and  always,  without  exception,  his 
fighting  was  for  right  and  truth  as  it  was  given  him 
to  see  them. 

Scores  of  times,  in  this  Civil  Service  crusade,  he 
forced  committees,  bearded  officials  in  their  dens, 
and  dominated  mass  meetings,  and  then,  at  each 
day's  close,  slept  the  full,  deep  sleep  of  a  child 
with  unclouded  heart,  and  rose  refreshed  on  the 
morrow  to  renew  the  conflict. 

Not  only  did  he  evince  unconquerable  courage, 
but  he  was  eminently  sane  and.  practical,  and  he 
was  fast  becoming  astute.  He  knew  that  he  was 
right  in  urging  the  merit  system  of  appointments, 
but  he  could  understand  the  surprise  and  opposi 
tion  as  such  "Old-timers"  as  his  faithful  friend  Joe 
Murray,  to  whom  the  maxim  "To  the  victors  be 
long  the  spoils"  was  as  fundamental  as  any  com 
mand  of  the  decalogue.  With  a  sad  smile  but  a 
firm  pen  Roosevelt  must  have  written,  many  years 
afterward,  "There  was  a  certain  thinness,  morally, 
in  some  of  the  Civil  Service  advocates.  This  made 
them  distrusted  by  vigorous  human  men  like  my 


VICTORS  AND  SPOILS  109 

friend  Joe  Murray.  He  always  felt  that  my  Civil 
Service  Reform  work  was  the  one  blot  on  my 
otherwise  excellent  public  record." 

One  incident  out  of  scores  which  might  be  cited 
shows  the  sanity  and  then  the  consistent  moral  tone 
in  Roosevelt's  character.  I  refer  to  the  well-known 
Shidy  case.  It  came  in  1890.  Hundreds  of  offices 
had  been  set  apart  to  be  filled  under  the  merit  sys 
tem.  Roosevelt  learned  that  appointments  con 
trary  to  the  new  merit  system  had  been  made  in 
Milwaukee.  He  at  once  investigated,  found  that  a 
member  of  the  local  Civil  Service  board  was  the 
center  of  the  plot,  had  a  personal  interview  with 
him,  and  agreed  to  keep  him  in  office  on  the  board 
if  he  would  tell  the  whole  story. 

This  looks  like  compounding  a  felony.  But 
Roosevelt  never  was  frightened  by  big  words.  He 
saw  that  the  only  means  at  hand  for  laying  bare 
the  fraud  was  to  promise  immunity  to  Shidy.  In 
a  choice  of  evils  he  chose  the  lesser  and  went  ahead. 
Shidy  confessed,  the  Milwaukee  postmaster  was 
dismissed,  and  Shidy  remained  in  office. 

Comes  the  second  half  of  the  story.  A  Washing 
ton  newspaper  played  up  the  incident,  roused  some 
public  feeling,  and  soon  afterward  Shidy  was  dis 
missed  from  office.  Roosevelt,  failing  to  have  him 
reestablished,  went  to  the  trouble  of  procuring  for 
him  a  clerkship  in  the  Census  Bureau  which  had 


110     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

not  been  brought  under  the  merit  rule.  Thus  he 
solved  a  complicated  problem  and  solved  it  on  the 
"square  deal"  plan,  with  a  dash  of  human  sym 
pathy  thrown  in. 

Opponents  of  the  merit  system  had  much  to  say, 
in  those  days  of  1888  to  1894  —  and  have  to-day 
also  —  and  with  partial  truth  on  their  side:  that 
examinations  which  must  be  carried  on  in  writing 
could  not  express  the  worth  and  capacity  of  the 
candidate.  Roosevelt  saw  the  reasonableness  of 
this  claim,  but  he  could  see  more  than  one  side  of 
almost  any  question.  And  he  simply  took  the 
ground  that  imperfect  as  written  and  "theoretical" 
tests  were,  they  were  better  than  the  "reward" 
method,  the  "spoils"  system. 

He  even  advocated  that  practical  tests  should 
be  applied  where  possible,  as  in  the  case  of  appli 
cants  for  appointments  as  custom  inspectors  in 
Texas,  where  the  men  should  be  tested,  he  thought, 
in  marksmanship  and  horsemanship.  Such  a  plan 
seemed  visionary  to  most  people  at  that  time,  but 
he  had  foresight  years  ahead  of  his  contemporaries, 
as  usual.  Such  tests  afterward  were  actually  ap 
plied. 

This  was  perhaps  the  most  contentious  period 
of  reformer  Roosevelt's  contentious  life.  Uphill 
work  against  time-honored  prejudice  and  misty 
public  opinion  all  the  way.  One  of  the  incidents  — 


VICTORS  AND  SPOILS  111 

that  tilt  of  his  with  Republican  Congressman  Gros- 
venor,  of  Ohio  —  brings  out  in  a  clear  light  the 
tenacity  of  Roosevelt,  his  way  of  "fighting  a  fight 
to  the  finish."  Grosvenor  looked  after  the  wool  in 
terests  of  a  few  thousand  sheep-owners  in  his  State. 
This  got  him  the  sobriquet  of  "The  Gentle  Shep 
herd  of  Ohio."  He  now  attacked  the  Civil  Service 
reform.  Roosevelt  asked  that  he,  Grosvenor,  be 
summoned  to  testify  at  the  hearing.  But  "The 
Gentle  Shepherd"  did  not  like  to  come  to  close 
quarters  with  the  young  reformer.  He  thereupon 
stated  that  he  would  be  "unavoidably  absent."  But 
he  heard  soon  after  that  Roosevelt  was  to  be  away 
on  his  ranch  in  the  West.  Accordingly  he  sent  a 
message  that  he  found  he  could  be  present,  after 
all. 

Then  Roosevelt  went  to  the  extreme.  He  gave 
up  his  trip,  attended  the  hearing,  and  tied  up  the 
astonished  Congressman  in  his  own  strained  logic 
as  completely  as  ever  a  public  official  was  tied  up 
in  red  tape. 

It  was  just  one  fight  after  another,  that  Civil 
Service  term.  And  making  enemies  for  himself 
all  the  time,  yes,  and  alienating  sincere  but  shallow 
friends.  Yet  he  rejoiced  in  it.  It  was  very  life  to 
him.  He  had  truth  and  right  on  his  side,  and  this 
nerved  him  to  incessant  action.  "His  strength  was 
as  the  strength  of  ten,  because  his  heart  was  pure." 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

I  know,  too,  that  his  sunny  sense  of  humor,  so 
rich  and  unfailing,  helped  him  through  many 
cloudy  days.  Take  the  case  of  Senator  Gorman  of 
Maryland.  Roosevelt  must  have  enjoyed  fight 
ing  it  through  and  enjoyed  writing  about  it  in  his 
biography,  many  years  afterward.  As  I  read  his 
account  of  the  case,  lighted  by  humorous  touches 
throughout,  I  can  see,  in  my  fancy,  the  twinkle  in 
his  eyes  and  the  unique  smile  which  punctuated  his 
sentences. 

Mr.  Gorman  had  attacked  the  Civil  Service  re 
form.  And,  to  illustrate  its  weakness,  he  cited  the 
case  of  "A  bright  young  man  from  Baltimore,  a 
Sunday-school  scholar,  recommended  by  his  pas 
tor,  and  an  applicant  for  a  position  as  letter  car 
rier.  They  asked  him  questions,"  said  Gorman, 
"about  the  shortest  route  to  China,  and  about 
steamship  lines  to  Europe.  And  the  young  man  re 
sponded  that  he  had  not  desired  to  go  to  China  or 
Europe.  Then  came  questions,"  continued  the 
Maryland  senator,  "about  chemistry,  and  branched 
into  geology,  and  they  finally  turned  him  down." 

Roosevelt,  recalling  the  controversy,  writes, 
"Apparently  Mr.  Gorman  did  not  know  that  we 
kept  full  records  of  our  examinations.  I  wrote  him 
that  I  could  find  record  of  no  such  questions  and 
then  asked  for  the  name  of  'The  bright  young  man 
from  Baltimore.'  But  that  'bright  young  man'  re- 


VICTORS  AND  SPOILS  113 

mained  permanently  without  a  name.  I  wrote  to 
the  senator  that  perhaps  the  young  applicant  had 
deceived  him.  But  Mr.  Gorman  —  not  hitherto 
known  as  a  sensitive  soul  —  said  he  was  'shocked'  at 
my  doubts  of  his  young  friend's  veracity.  So  I 
made  a  public  statement  of  the  whole  case.  Then 
Mr.  Gorman  declared  in  the  Senate  that  he  had  re 
ceived  an  'impudent'  letter  from  me,  and  had  been 
'cruelly'  called  to  account  when  he  was  trying  to 
right  a  great  wrong.  But  he  never  made  public 
any  clew  to  the  identity  of  that  child  of  his  fond 
est  fancy  —  'the  bright  young  man'  without  a 


name." 


Those  of  us  who  have  exchanged  letters  with 
Roosevelt  know  his  rapid  and  somewhat  illegible 
handwriting.  At  a  Civil  Service  investigation,  one 
of  the  insolent  defenders  of  the  spoils  system  criti 
cized  sharply  his  chirography.  "You  yourself,  Mr. 
Roosevelt,  could  not  pass  an  examination  in  hand 
writing,  such  as  you  require  of  candidates.  Your 
writing  is  a  pinched-up  sort,  like  a  lady's  hand." 

The  young  Commissioner  came  back  at  him 
sharply:  "That  is  true.  I  would  not  be  qualified 
for  a  position  as  a  clerk  in  a  department,  but  I  am 
not  applying  for  one.  But  I  am  qualified  to  be  a 
commissioner  of  Civil  Service  and  to  maintain  its 
principles  against  the  efforts  of  such  men  as  you 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

who  are  doing  so  much  to  injure  our  governmental 
efficiency." 

In  this  connection,  the  reader  may  be  interested 
to  look  at  a  specimen  of  Roosevelt's  handwriting; 
and  I  introduce  a  brief  letter  —  one  of  many  — 
which  I  received  from  him.  There  is  little  that 
need  be  said  about  it  except  that  it  was  evidently 
the  work  of  a  writer  who  did  not  consume  more 
time  than  was  necessary  over  the  details  of  his 
voluminous  correspondence. 

Most  men  who  have  reached  the  age  of  fifty, 
looking  back  over  their  lives,  can  point  to  a  few 
situations  where  they  were  in  danger  of  personal 
physical  encounter  with  other  men.  With  the 
great  majority  of  us,  such  strained  moments  are 
few.  But,  in  Roosevelt's  case,  there  were  many. 
He  never  consciously  insulted  or  ' 'dared"  or  of 
fended  any  man;  but  he  was  naturally  impulsive 
and  frank,  and  also  he  knew  not  fear.  So  that 
some  of  us  can  recall  several  occasions  when  he  was 
close  to  physical  encounter,  indeed  several  where  he 
actually  was  engaged  in  it. 

His  drastic  application  of  the  merit-system  rules, 
as  fast  as  they  were  framed,  fairly  maddened  some 
of  the  veterans  statesmen  and  politicians.  As  one 
of  his  friends  said  to  him,  "He  was  always  an  ag 
gressive  knight,  with  lance  always  ready."  An 
occasion  where  a  fist-fight  was  narrowly  averted 


VICTORS  AND  SPOILS  115 

is  thus  recalled  by  Colonel  E.  W.  Halford,  for  a 
time  private  secretary  to  President  Harrison.  "A 
prominent  Congressman  was  in  my  room  at  the 
White  House  one  day,  and  was  repeating  some  of 
the  bitter  cheap  charges  against  Roosevelt  and 
Civil  Service  reform,  which  he  had  made,  in  a 
speech  in  the  House,  the  day  before.  At  that 
moment  the  Commissioner  came  in.  Immediately 
the  fireworks  began;  and  in  a  moment  or  two  the 
lie  was  passed.  I  got  between  the  two,  and  the 
Congressman  left  the  room.  Mr.  Roosevelt  then 
apologized  to  me  and  said  that  he  realized  that  any 
man  who  struck  another,  in  the  President's  house, 
could  not  remain  his  appointee;  and  if  he  had  ex 
changed  blows  with  the  other  man  he  would  at 
once  have  written  out  his  resignation." 

That  was  a  fine  touch  on  Roosevelt's  part,  but 
not  surprising  to  any  who  knew  him  intimately. 
The  story  has  a  cheering  sequel,  however,  as  here 
given  by  Colonel  Halford.  "In  the  same  room,  sev 
eral  years  afterward,  the  same  Congressman  sat 
one  day  talking  with  President  McKinley.  Roose 
velt  entered,  saw  his  former  opponent,  took  a  seat 
modestly,  and  waited.  Presently  the  Congress 
man,  still  addressing  the  President,  but  fully  aware 
of  Roosevelt's  presence,  remarked,  'McKinley,  you 
remember  a  fellow  named  Roosevelt,  who  was 
Harrison's  Civil  Service  Commissioner.  He  was 


116     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

the  most  impracticable  man  I  ever  saw.  I  notice 
that  you  have,  as  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
a  man  of  the  same  name.  But  it  can't  be  the  same 
man  for  your  man  is  about  the  most  efficient  officer 
I  have  ever  known.' 

"That  was  handsome  of  him.  So  Roosevelt,  al 
ways  chivalrous,  magnanimous,  thought  also.  And 
he  strode  across  the  room,  grasped  his  ancient  foe's 
hand  heartily,  and  exclaimed,  'Put  it  there!  It's  all 
right,  hereafter.'  And  the  two  were  friends  from 
that  moment." 

In  all  this  reform  work  and  in  later  fields  of  re 
form,  Theodore  Roosevelt  was  an  Idealist.  But 
that  word  is  so  stretched  and  strained  in  our  day 
that  it  has  lost  most  of  its  definite  meaning.  Apart 
from  its  strictly  metaphysical  signification  and  in 
its  popular  denotation,  the  word  Idealist  means 
"one  who  believes  in  larger  ethical  aims  than  the 
world  at  present  has  realized."  But  a  man  may 
believe  in  these  larger  guiding  ideas  .and  yet  not 
lift  a  finger  to  get  them  realized.  Or  a  man  may 
believe  in  the  larger  ideals  and  use  them  solely  to 
advance  his  own  interests.  Such  a  man  is  a  slave  of 
"ambition,  that  last  infirmity  of  noble  minds."  But 
the  true  type  of  idealist  is  the  ethical,  working 
idealist,  the  man  who  not  only  sees  the  better  way 
but  pursues  it  for  the  good  of  his  country  or  the 
world. 


VICTORS  AND  SPOILS  117 

Such  a  man  was  Theodore  Roosevelt,  eager  for 
the  advance  of  his  country  into  ever  nobler  paths 
and  ready  always  to  sacrifice  his  personal  ease  and 
self-interest  for  that  end. 

He  had  ideals  in  many  fields  —  scholarship, 
friendship,  as  husband  and  father,  and  wherever 
his  active,  eager  spirit  led.  But  apparently  his 
ideal  of  his  native  land  had  special  authority  over 
him.  He  loved  his  country  profoundly,  and  he 
seemed  to  see  it  glorified,  radiant  before  and  above 
him  like  a  heavenly  constellation.  And  by  it, 
through  all  his  strenuous  career,  his  path  was  de 
termined  and  his  footsteps  guided. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

"THE  FINEST"  REFINED 

We  read  in  the  ancient  Greek  myths  and  legends 
about  the  "Labors  of  Hercules",  but  we  are  not 
told  whether  that  hero  saw  them  in  series  ahead  of 
him,  or  took  them  one  at  a  time,  seeing  and  accom 
plishing  each  for  itself  alone.  The  entire  series, 
taken  as  a  whole,  might  have  daunted  him.  If 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  at  twenty-two,  standing  on 
the  threshold  of  his  mature  life,  could  have  known 
the  series  of  arduous  tasks  of  public  service  in  which 
his  life  would  be  summed  up  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
two  —  even  he  of  iron  will  and  unflagging  enthu 
siasm  might  have  been  dismayed. 

Other  men  have  held  public  office,  have  done 
good  routine  work,  and  have  thriven  on  it;  they 
have  made  of  their  name  scarcely  more  than  a  rub 
ber  stamp,  and  have  left  a  fairly  good  record  for 
efficiency.  But  he  was  never  content  with  this  per 
functory  method.  He  sought  to  bring  every  pub 
lic  work  upon  which  he  entered  as  close  as  possible 
to  perfection.  That  is  idealism  in  a  working  man. 
And  when  the  man  holds  his  idealism  in  one  hand 


"THE  FINEST"  REFINED  119 

and  with  the  other  hand  lays  hold  of  the  realities 
of  human  nature  and  the  facts  of  human  life,  in 
dividual  and  group  —  that  is  sane,  practical  ideal 
ism. 

After  his  reformative  career  in  the  New  York 
legislature,  Roosevelt  was  rather  expected  to  re 
form  whatever  department  he  was  put  into.  And 
most  of  them  needed  reform.  So  when  William 
D.  Strong,  himself  "Reform  Mayor"  of  New  York, 
offered  the  position  of  Police  Commissioner  to  him, 
the  mayor  expected  a  certain  amount  of  disturb 
ance  and  protest  throughout  the  dives  and  saloons 
of  the  city  and  among  the  blackmailers  at  City 
Hall.  And  he  was  not  disappointed.  The  smaller 
liquor  dealers  and  retailers  without  a  "pull"  had 
been  forced  to  pay  to  the  police  any  sums  de 
manded.  But  the  larger  dealers  got  immunity  by 
reason  of  the  political  support  they  gave  to  Tam 
many.  Even  policemen  were  appointed  to  the  force 
only  after  their  payment  of  money  to  the  "men 
higher  up."  Three  hundred  dollars  was  the 
amount  required  from  a  man  seeking  the  position 
of  patrolman. 

The  old  Knickerbocker  municipality  had  become 
a  sink  of  iniquity,  a  cesspool  of  corruption.  Good 
men  had  tried  to  improve  conditions,  but  had  given 
up  the  task.  They  sadly  prophesied  the  same  out 
come  for  Roosevelt.  Following  Lowell's  couplet, 


120     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

it  might  be  said  that  "Wrong  was  on  the  throne" 
and  was  sardonically  awaiting  a  gagged  and  blind 
folded  victim  "on  the  scaffold."  But  the  young 
veteran  from  the  Civil  Service  reform  arena  en 
tered  smilingly,  yet  sternly,  upon  his  "job",  put 
two  iron  years  of  effort  into  it,  and  when  in  1897 
he  left  it,  the  judge  who  charged  the  Grand  Jury 
of  New  York  County  congratulated  that  jury  and 
the  public  at  large  "upon  the  phenomenal  decrease 
in  crime,  especially  of  the  violent  sort." 

It  has  been  said  of  Roosevelt,  now  that  his  eager, 
strenuous  life  is  over,  that  great  though  he  was,  he 
lacked  the  ability  to,  delegate  his  work  to  under 
officials.  There  are  two  sides  to  that  method.  If 
those  delegated  under  officials  are  faithful,  well 
and  good ;  their  superior  is  left  free  to  cover  more 
territory,  and  thus  accomplish  more.  But  fully 
half  the  inefficiencies  and  corruptions  in  govern 
ments  arise  from  the  failure  of  weak  or  wicked 
"under  officials"  to  carry  out  measures  which  were 
born  in  purity  and  high  intent  in  the  hearts  of  their 
superior  officers. 

Well  did  Theodore  Roosevelt  know  this.  And 
throughout  his  victorious  career  he  owed  much  of 
his  strength  and  efficiency  to  the  fact  that  he  in 
sisted  on  basing  his  actions  upon  facts  which  he  had 
at  first  hand.  Therefore,  in  his  transformation  of 
the  corrupt  police  of  New  York,  in  his  refining  of 


"THE  FINEST"  REFINED 

"The  Finest"  -  for  thus  that  executive  municipal 
body  was  often  called  —  he  dug  down  to  bottom 
facts  of  fraud  and  tyranny;  he  even  patrolled  the 
streets  by  day  and  night,  to  know  for  himself  where 
the  blame  lay.  These  diurnal  and  nocturnal  tours 
of  investigation  gained  for  him  among  the  initiate 
the  not  inappropriate  name  of  Haroun-al-Roose- 
velt ;  and  thus  East  and  West  did  meet. 

The  story  of  his  adventurous  two  years  as 
Police  Commissioner  would  be  imperfect  without 
grateful  reference  to  Jacob  Riis,  at  that  time  a 
man  whose  vocation  was  newspaper  reportorial 
work,  but  whose  avocation  was  the  uplifting  of 
New  York  City  out  of  fraud,  tyranny,  and  corrup 
tion  to  justice  and  self-respect.  Rudyard  Kipling 
is  reported  to  have  said  of  New  York  that  "It  had 
a  government  by  the  worst  elements  of  its  popula 
tion,  tempered  by  occasional  insurrections  of  re 
spectable  citizens."  But  Jacob  Riis's  struggle  for 
the  redemption  of  the  city  was  not  occasional.  It 
was  continuous.  Alone  and  unaided  he  would  have 
fought  the  good  fight.  But  when  Theodore  Roose 
velt  stepped  into  Police  Headquarters  at  Mul 
berry  Street,  these  two  men  entered  into  one  of 
the  noblest,  purest  coalitions  in  all  history.  They 
worked  together  for  municipal  reforms,  and  inci 
dentally  they  formed  a  friendship  —  men  of  ex 
tremely  divergent  antecedents  though  they  were  — 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

which  was  not  outshone  by  the  friendship  of 
Damon  and  Pythias  or  that  of  David  and  Jona 
than. 

The  respect  and  affection  between  the  two 
clear-minded  idealists  was  mutual.  Roosevelt 
said  of  Riis,  after  his  death,  "Next  to  my  own 
father  he  was  the  best  man  I  have  ever  known." 
And  when  we  read  Riis's  vivid  description  of 
Roosevelt's  earnest  deeds,  we  feel  the  beat  of  the 
loyal  Danish  heart  which  inspired  the  fiery,  elo 
quent  descriptions.  You  will  rarely  read  more 
terse,  intense  English  than  you  can  find  on  the 
pages  of  his  books.  Take  his  summing  up  of  city 
police  conditions,  after  the  new  Commissioner  had 
put  in  a  year's  work.  "Amazing  as  it  was,  'pull' 
was  dead.  Politics  or  religion  cut  no  figure.  No 
one  asked  about  them.  But  did  a  policeman, 
pursuing  a  burglar  through  the  night,  dive,  run 
ning,  into  the  Park  Avenue  railroad  tunnel,  risking 
a  horrible  death  to  catch  his  man,  he  was  promptly 
promoted.  Did  a  bicycle-policeman  lie  with  broken 
bones,  after  a  struggle  with  a  dangerous  runaway 
horse,  he  rose  from  his  bed  with  a  medal  for 
bravery  on  his  breast.  Did  a  gray-haired  veteran 
rescue  a  drowning  woman  from  among  grinding 
ice  floes,  he  was  called  to  headquarters  and  made 
a  sergeant." 

The  list  of  such  cases,  still  on  record,  is  almost 


"THE  FINEST"  REFINED 

endless.  Efficiency  in  the  service  was  rewarded 
and  inefficiency  was  firmly  eliminated.  And  the 
policemen,  after  they  recovered  from  their  first 
panic  under  the  new  regime,  knew  that  a  firm,  just 
hand  held  the  reins;  and  they  trusted  that  leader 
ship  and  were  proud  of  it. 

Doubtless  that  association  with  Jacob  Riis,  the 
trained  newspaper  man,  quickened  Roosevelt's  in 
clination  to  place  his  reform  purposes  as  much 
as  possible  before  the  public  eye.  All  his  later  life 
he  did  that  very  thing.  He  knew  how  the  turgid 
incumbents  of  fat  offices  would  oppose  and  mis 
represent  him.  And  he  sought  to  appeal  every 
case,  as  far  as  he  could,  from  their  biased,  in 
triguing  councils  to  the  tribunals  of  the  People. 

So  the  newspapers  were  full  of  the  doings  of  the 
new  Police  Commissioner.  Other  public  depart 
ments  sank  into  obscurity.  Roosevelt  got  the  ear 
and  eye  of  the  "plain  people",  so  called.  "Where 
McGregor  sat  was  the  head  of  the  table." 

Roosevelt's  record  as  Police  Commissioner,  his 
persistent,  fearless  fight  for  justice  and  high 
standards,  reads  like  a  dime  novel,  so  filled  it  is  with 
sensational  situations  and  daring  deeds;  yet  it  is 
all  true  and  verifiable.  To  him,  with  his  berserker 
blood  running  freely  in  his  veins,  it  became  almost 
commonplace,  so  continuous  it  was. 

Out  of  the  scores  of  incidents  which  might  be 


124      ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

adduced  to  throw  light  upon  his  many-sided  char 
acter,  I  select  three.  The  first  of  these  is  the  well- 
known  episode  of  the  anti-Semitic  demagogue, 
Ahlwardt.  This  rabid  hater  of  the  Jewish  race 
announced  a  public  meeting  on  a  certain  date. 
Several  of  the  members  of  that  race  asked  Roose 
velt  to  deny  the  man  a  license  for  his  meeting. 
But  Roosevelt  did  not  wish  to  forcibly  repress 
public  speaking  if  such  repression  could  be  avoided. 
Therefore  —  with  what  I  am  sure  was  a  mirthful 
twinkle  of  his  eyes  and  a  widening  of  his  unique 
smile  —  he  detailed  a  Jewish  sergeant  and  forty 
Jewish  policemen  to  station  themselves  in  the  hall 
during  the  meeting,  and  suppress,  if  necessary, 
that  violence  and  uproar  which  Ahlwardt  un 
doubtedly  courted. 

The  meeting  went  through  peaceably,  laughably 
so,  and  gained  no  notoriety  for  the  disappointed 
demagogue.  And  the  incident  stands  on  record 
as  one  which  exemplified  most  delightfully  the 
blend  of  humor  and  sagacity  in  Theodore  Roose 
velt's  nature. 

Two  other  incidents  which  I  present  raise  a 
question  regarding  Roosevelt's  qualities  which  I 
find  it  hard  to  answer. 

First,  there  was  the  case  of  the  disloyal  fellow- 
member  of  the  Police  Commission.  There  were 
four  members  of  the  Commission.  This  particular 


"THE  FINEST"  REFINED  125 

man,  P  -  -  ,  professed  great  sympathy  for  Roose 
velt  and  his  reform  work.  But  Joseph  Bishop, 
who  details  the  narrative,  was  convinced  of  this 
man's  falsity,  and  warned  his  friend  Roosevelt. 
In  vain.  As  Bishop  tells  it  in  his  biography,  "In 
accordance  with  his  invariable  and  incurable  tend 
ency,  he  persisted  in  placing  full  confidence  in 
this  man  simply  because  the  man  professed  full 
devotion  to  him." 

Thus  matters  ran  on  for  months,  Bishop  sus 
picious,  anxious,  and  Roosevelt  trustful.  Then 
came  the  denouement.  P—  -  gave  to  Roosevelt 
a  garbled  account  of  Bishop's  estimate  of  Roose 
velt;  an  account  partly  true  but  conveying  an 
utterly  false  impression  as  a  whole.  A  sharp  sum 
mons  from  Roosevelt  brought  Bishop  to  an  ex 
planation.  And  that  explanation  made  clear  to 
the  Police  Commissioner  that  P—  -  was  treach 
erous  and  should  not  be  relied  upon.  Bishop's 
surmises  were  confirmed  by  the  subsequent  conduct 
of  P  -  - .  He  went  over  openly  to  Roosevelt's 
enemies  arid  brought  a  deadlock  into  the  proceed 
ings  of  the  Board. 

The  point  which  interests  in  this  episode  is  that 
it  raises  the  question  as  to  how  skilled  Roosevelt 
was  in  reading  human  nature.  I  have  heard  inti 
mate  friends  of  his  speak  admiringly  and  unre 
servedly  of  his  astuteness  and  his  knowledge  of 


126     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

men.  But  was  he  really  skillful  and  penetrating 
in  this  field? 

The  other  incident  which  I  recall,  as  bearing 
upon  this  point  of  my  classmate's  character,  is 
given  by  Riis.  A  certain  policeman,  who  had 
neglected  his  duties  on  several  occasions,  at  last 
received  from  Mulberry  Street  his  notice  of  dis 
missal.  But  the  man  had  "piped  off"  (as  Riis 
says)  the  kindly  nature  of  the  President  of  the 
Board.  And  one  day  he  presented  himself  at 
headquarters  with  eleven  youngsters  trailing  after 
him,  some  of  them  wailing  dismally.  The  Presi 
dent  had  just  come  to  the  office,  fresh  from  a  romp 
with  his  own  youngsters.  And  here  stood  this  for 
lorn,  discharged  patrolman,  with  his  unhappy  little 
ones  around  him.  The  policeman  waved  a  hand 
dejectedly  over  the  group  and  then  toward  his 
tender-hearted  chief.  "Motherless  they  are,"  he 
said;  and  waited  humbly. 

The  inevitable  result  followed.  Roosevelt  rein 
stated  him;  and  the  doleful  little  group  filed  out. 

Very  good,  that,  so  far  as  heart  was  concerned. 
But  how  about  head?  For  only  two  of  the  eleven 
children  were  the  policeman's  own.  The  other 
nine  were  borrowed  for  the  occasion. 

The  fact  is  that  Roosevelt  had  keen  knowledge 
of  human  nature  when  his  emotions  were  not 
stirred.  Also,  his  discernment  deepened  as  his 


"THE  FINEST"  REFINED  127 

experience  of  men  widened.  But,  essentially,  he 
was  a  man  of  many  and  strong  emotions.  And 
these,  many  times  in  his  life,  impaired  his  judg 
ment. 

In  a  conversation  with  Miss  Josephine  Strieker, 
for  a  dozen  and  more  years  his  efficient  secretary 
and  his  intensely  loyal  friend,  I  laid  before  her 
this  question  of  Roosevelt's  reading  of  human 
nature.  And  her  opinion  was  clear  and  firm  and 
in  accord  with  Mr.  Bishop's  opinion.  "Mr.  Roose 
velt,"  she  said,  "was  not  of  a  suspicious  but  a 
trustful  nature.  He  trusted  too  much.  He  be 
lieved  every  man  innocent  until  the  man  proved 
himself  guilty." 

So  there  is  the  interesting  psychological  prob 
lem  in  any  analysis  of  Roosevelt's  character.  My 
own  solution  is  that  he  had  a  great  and  increasing 
penetration  of  mind  into  the  character  and  motives 
of  men.  But  his  judgment  was  frequently  clouded 
and  deflected  by  his  strong  emotions.  And,  second, 
in  the  coldly  intellectual  field  he  was  handicapped, 
in  any  judicial  intentions,  by  his  fertile  self-expres 
sion,  which  he  constantly  strove  to  moderate  and 
revise,  but  not  always  with  success. 

If  we  push  this  reading  of  human  nature  out 
beyond  its  bearing  upon  individuals  to  its  bearing 
upon  groups  —  political  parties  and  nations,  for 
example  —  we  find  that  he  was  perspicacious  in  a 


128     ROOSEVELT    THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

wonderful  degree  and  sometimes  almost  supernat- 
urally  prophetic.  Everybody  knows  this,  at  this 
late  day,  even  those  who  in  former  days  honestly 
thought  him  a  "time-server"  or  "firebrand."  Yet 
in  one  field,  at  least,  his  perceptions  miscarried,  — 
his  optimistic  confidence  in  the  American  people, 
his  fellow  citizens,  that  they  were  as  much  interested 
in  bettering  public  service  as  he  was.  Further, 
that  they  would  go,  cheerfully,  as  many  times  to 
the  voting  booths  as  he  would  go.  Hence  his 
projects  of  the  Initiative  and  the  Referendum. 
But  facts  prove  the  contrary.  The  voters  of  the 
nation  will  go  to  the  polls  once  a  year,  weather 
permitting,  in  goodly  numbers.  In  an  emergency, 
twice  a  year.  But  no  more.  Roosevelt  measured 
the  patriotism  of  the  people  by  his  own  unflagging 
devotion  to  the  country  he  loved,  and  he  misjudged 
the  situation.  His  own  noble  emotions  deflected 
his  judicial  opinion. 

However,  "the  people"  were  much  on  his  mind 
and  heart.  Little  wonder  that  he  credited  them 
with  more  than  they  deserved.  In  New  York, 
during  his  service  at  Mulberry  Street,  his  repeated 
appeals  for  support  in  his  vigorous  reforms  were 
to  the  public,  the  people.  And,  temporarily,  they 
backed  him.  All  through  his  public  career  his 
hope  of  support  lay  in  the  "plain  people"  behind 
self-interested  officials,  factions,  and  cabals.  He 


"THE  FINEST"  REFINED  129 

said  to  a  friend,  in  reply  to  a  leading  question, 
"The  people  at  large  disappoint  me  again  and 
again,  and  then  when  I  am  almost  discouraged  and 
hopeless,  they  rise  up  and  do  something  so  mag 
nificent  that  it  restores  all  my  confidence  in  them." 
The  days  and  weeks  succeeded  one  another,  in 
his  work  as  Police  Commissioner,  and  each  day 
and  week  brought  its  conflicts  and  contests.  Ordi 
nary  attacks  by  corrupt  opponents  did  not  much 
trouble  him.  He  "scented  battle  from  afar"  and 
rejoiced  in  it  when  the  clash  came.  But  some  kinds 
of  attacks  upon  himself  were  harder  to  bear  than 
others.  To  be  called  a  liar  or  a  thief  did  not  dis 
turb  him.  Those  plain  Saxon  words  were  often 
upon  his  own  lips.  But  to  be  called  hard-hearted, 
cruel,  heedless  of  the  downtrodden  and  oppressed, 
-that  stirred  him  with  indignation  and  righteous 
wrath.  Take  the  case  of  the  pernicious,  evil-breed 
ing  lodging  rooms  of  the  police  stations.  They 
were  barren  of  uplifting  aid  to  the  tramps  and  they 
were  harmful  to  the  community.  And  Roosevelt 
closed  them. 

Then  arose  revilings  from  various  kinds  of 
people,  —  both  those  vicious,  slothful  persons  who 
were  now  thrown  out  upon  their  own  resources  and 
also  from  substantial  philanthropists.  The  vener 
able  chairman  of  the  Charter  Revision  Committee 
asked  him  sternly  if  he  "had  no  pity  for  the  poor." 


130     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

And  that  attitude  toward  the  tender-hearted  Com 
missioner  really  wounded  him.  But  he  was  right; 
and  he  persisted.  And  every  worker  among  the 
needy  classes,  among  the  "down  and  outs",  knows 
that  Roosevelt  simply  anticipated  by  a  few  years 
the  enlightened  policy,  under  similar  conditions, 
of  our  charitable  societies. 

The  tourist  at  the  Roman  Forum  is  shown  that 
there  are  several  forums,  one  beneath  another, 
modern,  medieval,  and  ancient,  with  minor  epochs 
identifiable  among  these  larger  ones.  Similarly, 
in  Roosevelt's  character,  as  in  most  men,  there 
are  various  layers,  or  personalities,  one  under  an 
other.  And  the  warm-hearted,  tender  Roosevelt 
was  as  real  as  the  stern  official  Commissioner. 
When  I  asked  Oscar  Straus  to  tell  me,  from  his 
intimate  association  with  President  Roosevelt 
during  Roosevelt's  presidency,  what  quality  most 
impressed  him,  his  reply  was:  "His  tenderness. 
He  had  other  remarkable  qualities,  but  his  kind 
ness  of  heart,  his  consideration  of  the  feelings  of 
his  associates  in  the  Cabinet  —  that  was  what  struck 
me."  And  Mr.  Straus  continued,  "There  were 
times  when  something  was  needed  to  be  done  by 
some  member  of  the  Cabinet  which  was  likely  to 
bring  to  that  man  public  disapproval.  And  I  have 
known  President  Roosevelt  to  say,  'I  won't  ask 


"THE  FINEST"  REFINED  131 

you  to  do  that.  I'll  do  it  myself.  I'm  tough  and 
I  can  bear  it.' ' 

His  range  of  interests,  continually  added  to 
and  enlarged  through  his  entire  life,  often  sur 
prises  me  anew.  At  one  moment  I  see  him  grasp 
ing  great  problems,  in  his  several  official  stations, 
and  I  see  him  a  rising  statesman  of  increasing 
eminence.  Then  I  read  in  his  Autobiography  about 
Otto  Raphael,  the  stalwart  young  Jew,  who  was 
well-fitted  for  police  duty  but  had  not  possessed 
the  requisite  "pull."  Roosevelt  urged  him  to  take 
the  examination;  he  passed,  was  appointed  to  the 
force,  and  acquitted  himself  most  creditably,  in 
cidentally  supporting  several  members  of  his 
family  still  in  Russia. 

Thus  Roosevelt  writes  the  narrative.  And  then 
comes  a  touch  characteristically  Rooseveltian ;  it 
could  have  come  from  no  other  of  the  long  and 
variegated  list  of  statesmen  and  high  officers  in 
this  country.  He  closes  his  narration  thus: 

"I  will  mention  that  Otto  and  I  were  almost  the 
only  men  in  the  Police  Department  who  picked 
Fitzsimmons  as  a  winner  against  Corbett." 

These  are  some  of  the  exterior  phases  of  Roose 
velt's  regime,  in  his  police  reform  work  in  New 
York  City.  But,  inside  all  this  accumulation  of 
exciting  facts  and  repeated  successes,  the  rebuild 
ing  of  his  own  character  went  on.  For  he  was,  I 


132     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

repeat,  the  most  truly  self-made  man  whom  I 
know,  in  American  annals.  And  to  remake  himself 
he  must  first  know  himself.  He  did  know  himself. 
He  was  honest  with  himself;  and  he  was  unflinch 
ing  in  his  self -arraignments  over  failures  or  de 
ficiencies. 

As  one  of  the  many  illustrations  which  might  be 
given  of  Roosevelt's  phenomenal  power  of  proph 
ecy,  I  recall  that  it  was  at  this  time  that  he  wrote 
his  "History  of  New  York  City."  And  noteworthy 
it  is,  as  illustrating  also  his  farsightedness,  that 
in  that  book,  published  in  1903,  he  declares  that 
we  must  cut  out  all  hyphens  from  American  names. 
And  he  urges  an  undivided  American  citizenship. 
That  cry  is  uttered  far  and  wide  in  our  land  to-day, 
but  when  he  uttered  it,  his  solitary  voice  was  like 
that  of  "one  crying  in  the  wilderness." 

This  chapter  may  well  close  with  a  quotation 
from  Jacob  Riis,  himself  a  true  man  and  a  loyal 
citizen.  "We  rarely  realize,  in  these  days,  how 
much  of  our  ability  to  fight  for  good  government 
is  due  to  the  campaign  of  honesty  waged  by  Theo 
dore  Roosevelt,  in  Mulberry  Street." 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   HAPPY  WARRIOR 

Who  is  the  Happy  Warrior?    Who  is  he 
That  every  man  in  arms  should  wish  to  be? 
...  It  is  the  generous  Spirit,  who,  when  brought 
Among  the  tasks  of  real  life,  hath  wrought 
Upon  the  plan  that  pleased  his  boyish  thought: 
Whose  high  endeavors  are  an  inward  light 
That  makes  the  path  before  him  always  bright: 
Who,  with  a  natural  instinct  to  discern 
What  knowledge  can  perform,  is  diligent  to  learn ; 

Who,  doomed  to  go  in  company  with  Pain, 
And  Fear,  and  Bloodshed,  miserable  train ! 
Turns  his  necessity  to  glorious  gain. 

Having  reached  this  point  in  my  survey  of 
Theodore  Roosevelt's  character  and  career,  I  have 
been  brought  to  pause  by  a  conversation  which  I 
held,  recently,  with  Doctor  L  -  — ,  faithful 
friend  of  many  years  to  the  unique  household  at 
Sagamore  Hill.  When  I  urged  that  my  classmate 
was  essentially  a  fighting  man,  that  he  really  loved 
combat,  physical  and  intellectual,  Dr.  L  — 
demurred.  And  we  debated  earnestly  the  question. 
But  now,  after  several  weeks  of  reading  and  re 
reading  and  reflection,  I  hold  to  my  position.  My 
classmate  loved  combat,  —  attack  and  defense, 


134     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

struggle  for  moral  principles,  warfare  on  palaces 
of  privilege  and  dens  of  degradation.  Thank  God 
he  did.  Thus  he  was  able  to  "fight  the  good  fight" 
through  all  his  days,  indomitable  to  the  end.  And, 
as  he  said  repeatedly  to  friends,  life  was  a  joy  to 
him.  He  was  indeed  a  "Happy  Warrior." 

Said  my  beloved  professor,  William  James,  "If 
this  life  is  not  a  real  fight,  in  which  something  is 
eternally  gained  for  the  universe  by  success,  it  is 
no  better  than  a  game  of  private  theatricals.  But 
it  feels  like  a  real  fight." 

To  my  former  college  mate  as  to  my  former 
college  instructor,  it  "felt  like  a  fight."  And  in 
the  case  of  both  those  splendid  men,  there  was  also 
this  divine  overtone  —  as  the  musicians  say  —  to 
the  clash  of  arms  and  the  din  of  battle,  that  the 
very  stars  in  their  courses  were  fighting  with  them 
for  truth  and  right. 

Theodore  Roosevelt  loved  struggle,  combat,  con 
quest,  in  all  their  varied  forms.  That  point  I  still 
maintain,  as  in  previous  chapters  of  this  book. 
And,  if  I  may  add  one  anecdotal  confirmation  of 
my  judgment,  I  will  quote  our  classmate,  Charles 
Washburn,  who  says  that  once,  in  his  later  life, 
he  asked  Roosevelt  what  act  or  experience  of  his 
past  had  been  most  joyous.  And  Roosevelt,  after  a 
moment's  reflection,  replied,  "The  charge  up  San 
Juan  Hill," 


THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR  135 

He  had  achieved  unprecedented  success.  But, 
"The  blood  more  stirs  to  rouse  a  lion  than  to  start 
a  hare."  And  Roosevelt,  "ever  a  fighter",  like  Rob 
ert  Browning,  was  now  called  to  a  larger  field  of 
reform.  His  hand-to-hand  struggle  with  saloon 
keepers,  dive  owners,  thieves,  and  corrupt  ward 
politicians  had  been  a  trampling  under  foot  of 
vermin,  —  rats  and  snakes,  shall  we  say  ?  Now, 
through  the  unsought  agency  of  his  friend,  Henry 
Cabot  Lodge,  he  was  called  by  President  McKin- 
ley,  in  1897,  to  serve  the  nation  as  Assistant 
Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

His  studies  for  his  "History  of  the  Naval  War 
of  1812",  published  in  1882,  had  given  him  sound, 
wide  views  of  this  branch  of  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment.  But,  knowing  his  "Chief"  as  I  did, 
Secretary  John  D.  Long,  efficient,  patriotic  but 
circumspect  —  very  —  I  have  always  smiled  as  I 
have  pictured  Governor  Long's  face  of  furrowed 
anxiety  when  this  dynamic  young  reformer  entered 
the  calm  atmosphere  of  the  Navy  Department. 
Lodge  wrote  to  Roosevelt,  March  8,  1897,  a  letter 
which  hits  off  so  admirably  one  of  Secretary 
Long's  characteristics  that  I  quote  from  it.  "I 
have  seen  Long.  .  .  .  He  spoke  in  the  highest 
terms  of  you.  .  .  .  He  expects  to  be  consulted 
about  your  appointment."  Then  this:  "Long 
says,  'Roosevelt  has  the  character,  standing,  and 


136     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

ability  to  enable  him  to  be  a  Cabinet  Minister.  Is 
not  this  appointment  in  the  Navy  Department  too 
small  for  him?' ' 

That  was  Governor  Long's  way.  Wise,  cau 
tious,  never  hasty,  never  losing  his  head  through 
enthusiasm.  Hardly.  But  efficient,  and  on  the 
whole  disposed  to  advance  Roosevelt,  yet  sorry 
that  Roosevelt  was  not  to  be  somewhere  else, — 
even  in  a  full  Cabinet  office,  rather  than  under  his 
Secretarial  roof. 

So  Theodore  Roosevelt,  "increasing  in  years  and 
wisdom",  took  up  his  abode,  with  his  family,  at 
Washington,  and  turned  his  current  of  energy  into 
the  rusty  machinery  of  the  Navy  Department. 
Long,  believing  in  him,  yet  dreading  his  tireless, 
fearless,  reforming  spirit,  looked  on,  smiling  ap 
proval  but  keeping  his  cautious  hand  always  near 
the  brake. 

With  his  swift,  penetrating  survey,  the  new 
Assistant  Secretary  grasped  the  unpreparedness 
of  our  navy.  And  most  of  his  effort  while  in  office 
was  put  forth  to  remedy  that  defect.  He  desired 
peace  with  all  other  nations  as  earnestly  as  did 
any  member  of  the  American  Peace  Society;  but 
he  blended  that  desire  with  more  intelligence,  with 
more  insight  into  the  cold  facts  about  men  and 
nations  than  was  evinced  by  most  of  those  well- 
intentioned  people.  I  myself  was  an  accredited, 


THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR  137 

unpaid  lecturer  of  that  typical  peace  organization 
through  several  years;  and  I  know  how  fiercely 
many  of  those  "peace-loving"  people  fought  Theo 
dore  Roosevelt.  They  preferred,  most  of  them  — • 
like  William  Jennings  Bryan,  with  his  sterile 
treaties  falling  from  his  fertile  pen  like  the  leaves  in 
the  Vale  of  Vallombrosa  —  "scraps  of  paper." 

How  angry  I  became  at  the  fatuous,  short 
sighted  oracles  of  our  peace  societies!  And  how 
admirably  my  classmate  summed  them  up  in  a 
sentence  or  two!  "There  are  high-minded,  earnest 
people  who  in  a  genuine  fashion  strive  for  peace; 
and  then  there  are  those  foolish  fanatics,  always  to 
be  found  in  such  a  cause  and  discrediting  it,  —  the 
men  who  form  the  lunatic  fringe  in  all  reform 
movements." 

"Preparedness"  became  his  watchword  as  soon 
as  he  had  gained  knowledge  of  his  new  official  sur 
roundings.  And  going,  as  usual,  to  the  root  of 
the  matter,  he  saw  that  good  marksmanship  on 
warships  was  as  important  as  the  warships  them 
selves.  But  the  administration  was  reluctant  to 
expend  money  on  either  of  these.  Nevertheless, 
by  persistence  and  personal  appeal,  he  did  get  ap 
propriations  from  Congress,  and  new  ships  were 
built,  old  ones  were  repaired,  and  other  vessels 
were  acquired  by  purchase. 

Through  all  the  indifference  of  Congress  and 


138     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

the  opposition  of  the  bureaus,  he  plowed  his  cheer 
ful,  intelligent  way.  His  cheerfulness  amid  his 
perplexing  duties  is  hinted  at  by  a  young  fellow- 
worker,  who  narrates,  "Late  one  afternoon,  in 
Washington,  we  were  ending  a  business  round 
through  the  city.  We  started  to  take  a  street  car. 
'Have  you  the  price  of  a  ride  about  you?'  inquired 
Mr.  Roosevelt,  smiling  and  feeling  in  his  pockets. 
I  replied,  as  I  went  through  my  own  pockets,  that 
I  had  not.  My  delightful  companion  rejoined, 
with  a  smile,  'Then,  let's  walk.  Anyhow,  it  speaks 
well  for  the  honesty  of  our  government's  officials 
when  two  of  them,  having  just  spent  a  million  or 
two  dollars,  haven't  kept  enough  in  their  own 
pockets  to  pay  for  carfares.' ' 

The  young  secretary  was  not  only  efficient  in 
his  affairs,  but  he  was  a  delightful  asset  for  any 
host  at  a  dinner  table.  I  have  heard  that  the 
President  received  a  call  from  some  foreign  dig 
nitary  and  felt  constrained  to  ask  his  visitor  to 
dine.  Then,  feeling  a  little  burdened  at  the  pros 
pect  of  entertaining  this  alien  guest,  he  invited  the 
young  Assistant  Naval  Secretary  to  the  dinner  and 
seated  him  next  the  foreign  visitor.  The  dinner 
passed  off  smoothly.  Roosevelt  and  the  decorated 
dignitary  seemed  to  have  plenty  of  talk  between 
them.  At  one  point  in  the  conversation  the  Presi 
dent  caught  the  drift  of  their  conversation,  and  was 


THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR  139 

somewhat  astonished  —  though  not  greatly,  know 
ing  Roosevelt's  versatility  —  to  hear  him  expound 
ing  a  theory  of  athletics  and  illustrating  it  by 
naming  and  describing  a  half-dozen  of  the  leading 
American  athletes,  —  college  football  players,  pro 
fessional  pugilists,  and  the  like  —  and  maintaining 
broadly  that  race  ancestry  was  but  a  slight  factor 
in  athletic  eminence. 

There  were  two  leading  ideas  in  Assistant  Sec 
retary  Roosevelt's  mind  during  his  brief  occupancy 
of  his  desk  in  the  Navy  Department.  One  was 
the  idea  —  or  better,  the  sound  practical  idea  —  of 
raising  the  fighting  efficiency  of  our  nation's  naval 
equipment  to  a  point  commensurate  with  the  re 
sources  and  the  need  of  the  nation.  The  other  idea 
was  a  certain  prescience  regarding  the  logic  of 
current  events.  Mr.  Bishop  in  his  biography  says, 
"Roosevelt  saw  clearly  what  men  would  do,  be 
cause  he  had  accurate  knowledge  of  and  calm  judg 
ment  upon  what  men  had  done."  This,  however, 
was  only  half  the  truth.  Roosevelt's  knowledge 
of  men  was  increasing  each  year;  but  beyond  that 
he  had  wonderful  insight,  a  power  to  forecast 
events  —  when  he  put  aside  his  emotions  —  which  is 
more  than  mere  accumulated  knowledge  can  give. 
Some  minds  are  cisterns,  and  others  are  fountains. 
Roosevelt's  was  of  the  latter  kind.  No  cistern- 
mind  can  prophesy.  It  can  only  hold  facts.  The 


140     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

fountain-mind  gives  forth  what  we  never  saw  it 
take  in.  It  is  creative,  inspired. 

Admiral  Dewey,  in  his  Autobiography,  speaks 
of  Roosevelt's  "singular  understanding  both  of  the 
importance  of  preparedness  for  war  and  of  striking 
quick  blows,  in  rapid  succession,  once  war  was 
begun."  This  "singular  understanding"  comes 
close  to  the  truth  of  Roosevelt's  mental  processes, 
in  any  field  where  he  was  occupied.  In  the  then 
situation  he  scented  war  with  Spain.  Affairs  in 
Cuba,  Spain's  dependency,  were  becoming  unbear 
ably  inhuman.  And  Roosevelt,  always  contemptu 
ous  of  ostrich  methods,  faced  them  at  their  full 
value. 

Admiral  Dewey  might  easily  have  been  preju 
diced  in  Roosevelt's  favor  by  the  fact  that  it  was  the 
Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy  who  had  assigned 
to  him  that  strategic  position  in  the  Far  East 
which  made  possible  the  prompt  and  decisive  blow 
dealt  by  Dewey  at  Manila.  The  equipping  and 
preparing  of  Dewey's  ships  at  Hong  Kong  was 
ordered  by  Roosevelt  quite  without  authority  from 
his  chief,  Secretary  Long,  and  was  really  a  ven 
turesome  act  on  the  Assistant's  part.  Rut  he 
foresaw  events  and  anticipated  needs.  And  later 
his  chief  was  by  no  means  regretful  that  this  early 
initiative  had  been  taken. 

Then  came  the  sinking  of  the  United  States 


THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR  141 

battleship  Maine  in  Havana  Harbor.  And  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye  the  gates  of  the  Temple  of 
Janus  flew  open.  We  are  not  told,  in  Greek  tra 
dition,  much  about  the  architecture  of  that  martial 
structure,  but  —  so  far  as  this  country  and  Theo 
dore  Roosevelt  were  concerned  —  it  had  a  porch. 
The  office  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  was  that 
porch;  and  only  a  step  was  needed  to  carry  the 
young  Assistant  into  the  interior  of  the  Temple. 
Even  if  he  had  been  president  of  the  American 
Peace  Society  or  had  been  taking  a  vacation  in 
Kamtchatka,  he  would  have  heard  that  explosion  of 
the  Maine  and  would  have  flung  his  hat  into  the  ring. 
As  he  was  situated,  enlistment  was  easy  and 
inevitable.  Friends  advised  against  it,  but  in  vain. 
Doubtless  most  of  them  afterward  concurred  in 
John  Hay's  opinion.  In  1898  Hay  wrote  to 
Roosevelt,  from  London,  "I  am  afraid  I  am  the 
last  of  your  friends  to  congratulate  you  on  the 
brilliant  campaign  which  now  seems  drawing  to 
a  close.  When  the  war  began,  I  deplored  your 
leaving  your  place  in  the  Navy  where  you  were 
so  useful.  But  you  followed  your  own  daemon, 
and  we  older  fellows  must  confess  that  you  were 
in  the  right.  As  Sir  Walter  wrote, 

'One  crowded  hour  of  glorious  life 
Is  worth  an  age  without  a  name.'  " 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

One  of  the  last  acts  of  Roosevelt  as  Assistant 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  appeals  to  me  because  it 
carries  with  it  that  little  atmosphere  of  humor 
which  he  himself  always  breathed  with  delight.  It 
seems  that  two  prominent  members  of  Congress, 
representing  a  certain  Atlantic  State,  became 
nervous  about  the  exposure  of  that  seaboard  State 
to  possible  attacks  from  Spanish  warships.  They 
had  been  worse  than  lukewarm  about  building  up 
the  navy,  as  Roosevelt  had  desired,  but  now  they 
demanded  a  warship  for  their  State's  protection. 
They  asked  for  that  ship  from  the  Assistant  Sec 
retary,  and  getting  no  response,  they  "became  a 
permanent  committee",  Roosevelt  writes,  "in  at 
tendance  upon  the  President.  President  McKin- 
ley,  considerate  and  kindly  always,  told  Roosevelt 
to  send  a  warship.  And  Roosevelt  did  so.  He 
says  that  he  sent  one  of  the  old  Civil  War  monitors 
to  the  city  named.  Ancient,  useless,  even  dan 
gerous  to  all  on  board.  He  had  it  towed  by  a  tug 
to  the  proper  station.  A  hazardous  trip,  he  says, 
for  the  twenty-one  naval  militiamen  on  board. 
"Joy  and  peace  settled  upon  the  senator  and  con 
gressman.  Nobody  seemed  to  grasp  the  fact  that 
the  worn-out,  obsolete  old  craft  would  have  been 
no  more  effective,  for  protecting  the  city,  than  one 
of  the  ancient  galleys  of  Alcibiades." 

Roosevelt's  friendship  with  Leonard  Wood  had 


THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR  143 

already  begun.  The  two  young  men  had  met 
socially  at  a  dinner  party  given  by  the  Lowndes 
family.  They  had  walked  home  together  that 
evening,  and  they  learned  that  they  were  fitted  to 
be  friends.  Roosevelt  had  first  heard  about  Wood 
ten  years  before,  because  of  Wood's  astonishing 
and  successful  campaign  against  the  Apache  chief 
tain,  Geronimo.  Now  the  two  young  men,  magnif 
icent  types  of  American  manhood,  came  intimately 
together.  Together  they  walked  and  talked,  day 
after  day.  And  their  views  about  the  impending 
war  were  as  one.  So  openly  did  they  express 
themselves  about  the  duty  of  the  United  States 
toward  harassed  Cuba  that  kindly,  cautious  Presi 
dent  McKinley  and  others  spoke  of  them  humor 
ously  as  "The  War  Party."  And  when  the 
President  met  Wood  —  his  family  physician  at 
that  time  —  he  sometimes  asked,  "Have  you  and 
Roosevelt  declared  war  yet,"  and  the  prompt  reply 
came,  "No,  but  we  think  you  ought  to." 

When  the  declaration  of  war  came,  the  joint 
purpose  of  these  two  friends  was  furthered  greatly 
by  the  fact  that  Wood  was  the  family  physician 
of  General  Alger,  Secretary  of  War.  This  inti 
mate  relationship  gave  him  easy  access  to  that 
Cabinet  official  and  gained  for  himself  and  Roose 
velt  that  prompt  attention  to  their  plans  which 
cleared  their  path  into  the  Cuban  campaign. 


144     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

When  Roosevelt  was  offered  by  the  War  Secretary 
a  colonelcy  in  one  of  the  cavalry  regiments  then 
being  raised,  he  declined  it,  saying  frankly  that  he 
was  not  fitted  for  it,  but  would  be  glad  to  serve  as 
a  lieutenant  colonel  under  Wood.  Then  he  added, 
with  a  continuation  of  the  same  frank  speech,  that 
he  believed  he  could  fit  himself  for  a  full  command 
in  a  few  weeks.  And  subsequent  events  justified 
his  estimate  of  his  own  powers. 

The  "Rough  Riders."  Never  in  history  was 
such  a  company  of  men  gathered  together.  Drawn 
by  the  fame  of  the  two  leaders,  men  from  all  the 
divers  walks  of  American  life  eagerly  applied  for 
membership  •.  Every  live  young  man  who  had  ever 
been  associated  with  Wood  or  Roosevelt  longed  to 
be  enrolled  in  the  unique  First.  United  States  Vol 
unteer  Cavalry.  But  that  was  a  long  name;  and 
a  shorter  one,  one  that  would  flow  lightly  from  the 
tongue,  must  be  provided.  I  have  heard  Roosevelt 
express  his  growing  anxiety,  at  that  point  of  time, 
as  the  fertile  quill-drivers  of  the  press  put  forward 
suggestions.  "All  kinds  of  names  broke  out  in 
the  newspapers.  I  knew  that  some  kind  of  a  nick 
name  would  eventually  supplant  our  long  official 
title.  But  which  one?  I  remember  'Teddy's  Ter 
rors'  and  'Teddy's  Terriers',  and  there  were  many 
others.  But  when  somebody  started  'Rough  Rid 
ers',  that  struck  me  as  being  pretty  good.  We 


THE  ROUGH  RIDER:    FROM  prxcif.  LONDON. 


THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR  145 

could  hardly  hope  for  a  better."  Then,  in  accord 
with  his  inborn  tendency  to  "do  something  about 
it",  he  started  telegraphing  and  telephoning.  "I 
made  the  wires  hot,  for  an  hour  or  two,  in  various 
newspaper  offices.  And  the  result  was  that  'Rough 
Riders'  stuck,  and  will  be  permanent  and  ade 
quate." 

When  Leonard  Wood  and  Theodore  Roosevelt 
got  into  teamwork  together,  results  were  assured. 
The  two  men  trusted  each  other  profoundly.  They 
were  equally  sincere  and  determined.  Tempera 
mentally  they  complemented  each  other,  Wood 
being  rather  reserved,  not  talkative,  but  an  ap 
preciative  listener  to  eager,  resourceful,  expressive 
Roosevelt.  In  the  cutting  of  the  red  tape  of  official 
formality  they  wielded  the  shears  in  turn.  Both 
of  them  hated  shams  and  empty,  gilded  appear 
ances  and  pushed  promptly  for  realities.  Most 
people  are  now  familiar  with  the  chain  of  events 
which  led  from  the  mustering-in,  at  San  Antonio, 
to  Tampa,  Daiquiri,  El  Caney,  Las  Guasimas, 
and  San  Juan  Hill.  To  my  mind  the  deeper  in 
terest  which  pertains  to  these  exciting  events  is  the 
informing  light  which  they  throw  on  Theodore 
Roosevelt's  character.  First  of  all  stands  out  his 
inexhaustible  energy  as  he  strove  for  equipment 
and  necessaries  of  life  —  the  military  life  —  in  time 
of  war.  Roosevelt  had  served  three  years  in  the 


146     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

New  York  National  Guard,  and  that  experience 
was  invaluable  to  him.  He  knew  what  he  wanted, 
what  his  command  needed.  And  he  and  Leonard 
Wood  strove,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  against 
official  inertia  and  incompetence,  to  get  their  won 
derful,  conglomerate  organization  of  cowboys, 
ex-policemen,  college  graduates,  and  veteran  In 
dian  fighters  into  the  center  of  the  conflict.  They 
broke  a  few  musty  old  rules  and  regulations,  but 
they  "arrived." 

In  the  record  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  life  the 
points  over  which  the  reader  lingers  with  most 
interest  are  those  where  strength  blends  with  ten 
derness  in  that  great  man.  Similarily,  in  Roose 
velt's  record,  we  now  take  for  granted  the  causal 
connection  of  events  which  runs  like  a  skeleton- 
frame  through  the  rich  body  of  events  in  Cuba,  and 
dwell  delightedly  upon  the  touches  of  tenderness 
and  humor  which  overlay  his  inner,  stern  intention 
and  highly  wrought  purpose. 

One  of  the  best  of  these  very  "human"  incidents 
has  been  somewhat  garbled  by  reporters  and 
authors,  but,  condensed  from  Roosevelt's  own  na- 
rative,  it  reads  thus: 

"One  of  my  men,  an  ex-cow-puncher,  did  not 
grasp  the  military  principle  that  he  must  obey  not 
only  his  own  officers  but  officers  of  other  regiments. 
One  of  the  transport  officers  gave  him  some  order 


THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR  147 

and  he  did  not  obey.  Then  the  officer  told  him  he 
was  under  arrest.  Whereupon  my  man  offered  to 
fight  him  for  a  trifling  consideration.  Brought 
before  a  court-martial,  he  was  given  a  year  at  hard 
labor  and  a  dishonorable  discharge.  The  Major 
General  in  command  approved  the  sentence. 
There  was  no  guard-house  to  put  him  into,  so  a 
fellow  soldier,  also  an  ex-cow-puncher,  was  put 
over  him  as  guard. 

"This  all  happened  on  the  transport,  going  over 
from  Tampa.  When  we  landed  and  he  was  told 
that  he  would  be  kept  back  with  the  baggage  and 
not  allowed  to  get  into  the  fight,  he  came  to  me  in 
great  distress.  'Colonel,'  he  exclaimed,  'I  can't 
stay  out.  Only  let  me  go  to  the  front  and  I'll  obey 
anybody  you  tell  me  to.' 

"So  I  said  to  him,  'Shields,  there  is  nobody  in 
the  regiment  more  entitled  to  be  shot  than  you  are; 
and  you  shall  go  to  the  front.' 

"His  gratitude  was  great.  'I'll  never  forget 
this,'  he  declared.  Nor  did  he.  When  we  got  very 
hard  up,  he  would  get  hold  of  some  flour  and  sugar 
and  would  cook  a  doughnut  and  bring  it  to  me  and 
watch  me  with  delight  as  I  ate  it.  He  behaved 
extremely  well  on  the  fighting  line.  So  I  had  him 
brought  before  me,  formally,  and  I  remitted  his 
sentence,  which  I  had  no  real  authority  for  doing, 
but  it  seemed  natural  and  proper. 


148     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

"When  the  mustering  out  came,  the  Command 
ing  Officer  asked  where  my  prisoner  was.  'What 
prisoner?'  I  asked.  'The  man  who  was  sentenced 
to  hard  labor  and  a  dishonorable  discharge',  h^ 
replied.  I  said,  'I  pardoned  him.'  'Oh,  you  did!' 
was  his  sarcastic  exclamation.  Then  I  realized 
that  I  had  exceeded  my  authority.  But  I  answered, 
'Well,  I  pardoned  him,  anyhow;  and  he's  gone 
with  the  rest.'  Whereupon  the  officer  sank  back 
in  his  chair  and  remarked,  'He  was  sentenced  by 
court-martial,  the  sentence  was  approved  by  the 
Major  General,  and  you  —  a  Lieutenant  Colonel 
—  pardoned  him.  Well,  that  was  nervy.  That's 
all  I've  got  to  say.'  " 

Regarding  Roosevelt's  courage,  during  those 
fighting  days  along  the  heights  in  Cuba,  there 
could  be  only  one  thing  said.  Indeed,  it  goes  with 
out  saying  that  he  knew  no  fear;  indeed,  let  it  be 
always  remembered  that  he  loved  the  fray,  he  re 
joiced  in  the  conflict,  he  lived  more  exultantly  than 
during  any  other  hours  of  his  eventful  life.  He 
fought,  like  the  "Happy  Warrior"  that  he  was, 
because  of  the  righteousness  of  his  cause.  Always, 
to  his  mind's  eye,  there  was  present  to  him  the 
memory  of  Spanish  atrocities  which  he  was  fighting 
to  annihilate.  The  cruel  oppression  of  General 
Weyler  must  be  put  down.  A  helpless,  outraged 
people  in  towns  and  "concentration  camps"  must 


THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR  149 

be  rescued.  And  that  purpose  nerved  his  arm, 
making  him  the  human  champion  of  divine  right 
and  truth. 

He  was  a  brave  man.  Note  also  that  he  had  not 
only  physical  courage,  but  that  other  kind,  moral 
courage,  which  sometimes  has  been  lacking  in  men 
who  have  defied  death  in  battle.  When  the  need 
came  for  a  remonstrance  to  be  sent  to  lethargic 
officialdom  at  Washington,  when  somebody  there 
in  that  victorious  but  fever-smitten  and  dying  army 
was  looked  for  by  General  Shafter  to  dare  to  write 
plain  words  to  the  red-tape-bound  bureau  at  Wash 
ington,  the  man  selected  by  Shafter  was  Colonel 
Roosevelt.  And  he  dared  it.  The  letter  was  writ 
ten,  and  also  the  famous  "Round  Robin"  was  sent. 
Orders  for  debarkation  soon  came,  and  thousands 
of  soldiers'  lives  were  saved  largely  because  Theo 
dore  Roosevelt  dared. 

Another  situation  where  a  feebler  man  would 
have  hesitated  and  done  nothing,  but  where  Roose 
velt  dared,  was  that  where  he  was  leading  his  eager 
men  up  toward  the  San  Juan  Ridge.  He  wished 
to  force  the  fighting,  of  course.  And  he  came  up 
behind  a  line  of  Regulars  who  were  waiting  for 
orders.  "'Why  don't  you  charge?'  I  asked.  The 
reply  came  from  the  Regular  Commanding  Officer, 
'No  orders,  yet.'  Then  I  said,  'I'll  give  the  orders.' 
But  he  was  cautious  and  reluctant.  Then  I  said, 


150     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

'You  open  up  and  let  my  men  through.'  Which 
was  done.  And  the  younger  officers  and  enlisted 
men  of  the  regulars  sprang  up  and  followed  us, 
and  we  went  up  the  hills  with  a  rush." 

His  influence  with  his  men,  as  a  body  and  as 
individuals,  was  tremendous.  The  late  Judge 
Knowlton,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Massachusetts  Su 
preme  Judicial  Court,  said  to  me  soon  after  Mr. 
Woodrow  Wilson's  election  to  the  presidency, 
"He  is  a  man  of  ability  and  determination;  but  I 
think  we  must  not  expect  the  highest  things  of  him." 
But  Theodore  Roosevelt's  regiment  and  the  whole 
nation  were  learning  "to  expect  the  highest  things 
of  him."  And  he  never  failed  them.  The  high  and 
heroic  duties  he  always  welcomed.  He  shared  the 
hardships  of  the  march,  he  led  his  men  into  the 
thickest  of  the  fight,  he  gave  them  himself,  in  abso 
lute  sympathy  and  devotion.  And  the  many 
anecdotes  which  came  out  after  the  war  of  his 
affection  for  those  then  mustered-out  veterans  of 
the  Cuban  campaign  —  humorous,  indeed,  some  of 
them  —  simply  revealed  how  the  hearts  of  the  men 
and  their  commander  had  been  welded  indissolubly 
together  in  that  furnace  of  privations  and  perils 
at  Guasimas  and  San  Juan. 

The  man's  frankness  shines  out  clearly  in  his 
own  plain  words,  as  he  wrote  them.  He  says,  "I 
was  not  satisfied  with  that  Guasimas  fight.  I  had 


THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR  151 

moved  my  men  this  way  and  that,  as  best  I  could, 
but  I  could  get  no  clear  knowledge  of  the  exact 
conditions  and  needs  of  the  situation.  After  it 
was  over,  seated  with  Generals  Wheeler,  Lawton, 
and  Chaffee,  they  expressed  appreciation  of  my 
leadership.  I  was  really  expecting  disapproval; 
but  I  took  their  approval  as  coolly  as  I  could,  and 
concealed  the  relief  I  really  felt." 

We  heard  many  commendatory  things  said,  in 
the  recent  World  War,  about  the  unique,  effective 
"morale"  of  the  French  armies.  Officers  and  men 
fraternized,  yet  discipline  was  maintained.  That 
problem  of  morale  was  solved  in  a  similar  way  by 
Colonel  Roosevelt  in  the  Spanish  War.  His  per 
sonality  was  such  that  he  was  on  close  terms  with 
his  enlisted  men,  yet  his  word  was  law.  Respect 
for  his  courage,  intelligence  and  sympathy  was 
what  did  this,  —  the  sympathy  not  least  of  the  three. 
Afterward,  when  Roosevelt  was  Governor  of  New 
York,  he  took  a  trip  through  the  West,  and  at 
one  of  the  stations,  a  big,  bronzed  cowboy  boarded 
the  train.  Roosevelt  recollected  him,  shook  hands, 
and  said  to  a  friend  beside  him,  "This  is  the  very 
man  I  was  just  telling  you  about."  The  smiling 
cowboy  asked,  "Telling  him  about  Santiago?" 
"Yes."  Then  the  man  turned  to  the  interested 
friend  and  said,  "Well,  maybe  he  didn't  tell  you 
about  that  night  when  we  was  lying  out  in  the 


152     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

trenches,  soaked  through  with  rain,  and  he  came  out 
of  his  tent  and  gave  me  his  blanket?  And  maybe 
he  didn't  tell  you  how  he  took  off  his  poncho  and 
gave  it  to  another  fellow?"  Roosevelt  tried  to 
recall  it.  "Did  I  really?"  he  rejoined.  "Did  I  do 
that?  I'd  quite  forgotten  it." 

But  the  enlisted  man  had  not  forgotten  it.  Few 
of  those  men  did.  Their  leader  became  their  ideal 
and  idol;  and  intense  was  the  worship  which  they 
—  even  to  this  day  —  offer  him  arid  his  memory.  I 
have  received  several  communications,  during  the 
writing  of  this  book,  from  veterans  of  the  Rough 
Riders.  One  of  these  is  so  delightful,  so  distinctly 
an  "original  contribution",  that  I  gave  it  verbatim. 
Not  alone  what  the  writer  says,  clearly  and  with 
affection,  but  what  he  implies,  often  unconsciously, 
is  of  interest.  Reading  between  the  lines  brings 
out  subtle  meanings. 

Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  28th. 
My  dear  Mr.  Gilman: 

I  am  sure  I  would  be  pleased  to  comply  with 
your  request  of  saying  something  big  and  good  of 
the  man  that  is  gone,  but  not  forgotten  by  any  of 
the  "Boys  of  his  Regiment,"  as  he  used  to  call  us. 
In  speaking  of  us  in  Camp,  or  on  the  march  it  was 
his  saying,  "Bully,  my  boys!"  He  always  spoke 
of  us  as  his  "Boys"  and  he  certainly  was  proud 
of  his  Regiment,  and  on  those  charging  drills  of 
which  he  loved  to  see  good  horsemanship,  and  if 


THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR  153 

any  of  the  troopers  got  unhorsed  he  would  smile, 
and  remark,  "That  was  a  Bully  throw,  are  you 
hurt  any?"  and  then  pass  it  off  with  a  thorough 
Roosevelt  laugh,  for  he  loved  the  serious  part,  as 
well  as  the  test  of  man,  with  beast.  He  loved  the 
rough  and  ready,  and  how  he  loved  to  see  the  Cow 
boys  straddle  bucking  horses.  After  drills,  the 
Boys  of  the  Regiment  would  start  those  stunts,  and 
he  certainly  was  a  first  grand-stander  for  all  that 
sort  of  horse  sport,  our  Regiment  against  any  other 
outfit,  as  he  knew  he  could  rely  on  his  "Boys"  to 
turn  the  trick  on  any  horse  living.  When  he  would 
pass  us,  while  we  were  at  mess  or  play,  we  would 
hail  him  with,  "Colonel,  won't  you  have  a  bite  with 
us?"  He  would  stand  for  a  second,  meditating 
what  to  say,  and  with  a  big  broad  grin,  say,  "Cer 
tainly,  my  Boys."  And  then  and  there  we  would 
fix  him  some  of  our  good  solid  1898  Grub,  and  on 
a  tin  plate.  He  would  stand  and  certainly  eat  and 
enjoy  it  with  us,  and  then  say,  "It  tasted  fine, 
Boys,"  and  walk  off  as  pleased  as  a  school-boy, 
for  he  knew  we  all  loved  him. 

Just  before  being  mustered  out  of  service  of  the 
Rough  Riders,  and  the  boys  feeling  good  and  in 
prime  condition,  thinking  of  Home,  there  came 
to  camp  a  lot  of  those  smarty  gentry  from  the  city, 
called  Jewelry  Fakers  of  the  smallest  and  lowest 
types,  to  foist  off  phoney  two-dollar  watches  on  the 
boys,  ready  to  leave  for  their  homes  in  the  West. 
The  biggest  part  of  our  Troopers  were  Cow-boys, 
and  wished  to  bring  home  some  souvenir,  and  es 
pecially  a  gold  watch  and  chain,  as  they  thought, 
at  a  bargain — from  five  to  ten  dollars  a  piece, 
when  they  actually  were  only  worth  one  dollar, 


154     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

price  cut.  I  sauntered  over  to  see  what  was  going 
on,  and  one  of  these  chaps  was  doing  a  land  office 
business  with  his  cheap  and  phoney  snide  jewelry. 
I  spoke  up  and  said,  "Boys,  you  all  have  bought 
watches,  and  got  fooled  badly.  Now  to  prove  it. 
He  is  under  arrest  and  in  my  charge.  We  will 
proceed  to  give  him  a  general  camp  court-martial, 
under  the  rules  of  Roosevelt's  Rough  Riders,  at 
this  present  day  and  hour."  So  we  placed  him  on 
a  soap-box.  The  boys  all  around  camp  flocked 
over  to  see  what  the  rumpus  was  about,  for  Roose 
velt's  boys  were  ever  on  the  alert  for  any  fun. 
Well,  after  telling  the  man  of  what  he  was  charged, 
of  course  I  made  it  as  strong  as  I  could.  He  was 
quickly  found  guilty  of  defrauding  the  Rough 
Riders,  and  separating  them  from  their  hard- 
earned  U.  S.  dollars,  and  he  was  to  be  "tossed  up 
skyward  in  a  real  horse  blanket  by  those  basely 
defrauded  boys  of  the  West."  I  gave  the  word 
and  the  Cowboy  yell  to  let  him  have  his  medicine. 
He  got  down  on  his  knees,  with  hands  uplifted  as 
though  he  was  going  to  his  death.  A  blanket  was 
brought  in,  and  every  inch  of  it  was  held  by  them 
for  the  toss.  He  was  grabbed  no  gentle  way,  and 
heaved  into  the  blanket,  and  such  hollering!  He 
went  up  in  the  air  like  a  rocket,  time  and  time 
again,  with  the  delight  of  the  boys,  and  you  can 
imagine  every  time  he  went  up,  out  came  things 
from  his  clothing,  such  as  phoney  watches,  rings, 
and  the  cheapest  kind  of  jewelry,  and  the  boys' 
hard-earned  money. 

When  nearly  through  with  him,  Col.  Theo 
dore  Roosevelt  happened  to  look  over  to  see  what 
all  the  yelling  was  about,  and  I  suppose  he  thought 


THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR  155 

of  fighting  and  started  over.  I  said,  "Hold  fast, 
boys.  I  will  tell  and  explain  all  to  him  when  he 
comes."  So  we  still  kept  it  up.  One  —  two  - 
three  —  and  up  he  flew  again.  "Attention!"  I  said 
to  the  boys,  and  as  they  stood,  all  laughing  and  smil 
ing,  our  dear  beloved  man  of  all  men,  Colonel  Roose 
velt,  said:  "Who  tried  him?"  And  they  stood  pat 
and  said,  "Tony  Gavin."  "And  was  he  tried  fair?" 
"Yes,  sir."  "That's  fine.  Bully  for  you,  Tony!" 
He  had  a  big  grin  on  his  face,  when  he  sauntered 
away,  and  we  could  see  him  afterwards,  telling  the 
other  officers  what  we  did  to  the  jewelry  shark. 

So  you  see  he  loved  to  see  the  witty  side,  and 
fun  of  everything.  Of  course  the  boys  got  back 
all  of  their  money,  and  forgot  to  return  any  of  the 
loot.  The  man  certainly  was  glad  to  get  out  of 
camp  as  lucky  as  he  did.  And  on  another  occasion 
I  had  the  same  task  to  perform,  only  that  case  was 
of  selling  jewelry  to  the  boys,  for  their  mothers 
and  sweethearts,  of  the  rankest  sort  of  snide  jew 
elry  and  jewels.  Those  boys,  after  being  away 
from  home  and  to  Cuba,  wished  to  bring  home  some 
little  token  for  them  to  remember.  Well,  this 
jewelry  fake  I  ordered  to  be  thrown  up  skyward 
in  a  Rough  Riders'  blanket,  and  then  to  be  carried 
and  flung  from  the  blanket  into  a  horse  trough,  and 
then  escorted  to  and  out  of  our  camp  lines  with 
machetes  behind  him  never  to  return. 

That  kept  those  gentry  from  visiting  the  Rough 
Riders'  domains.  And  how  Colonel  Roosevelt  did 
laugh  when  he  found  out  what  I  did  to  this  indi 
vidual.  "Tony  treats  them  sort  of  rough,  but  he 
is  right.  But  the  next  chap  that  shows  up,  of  that 
stamp,  bring  him  before  me,"  he  said,  "and  I  will 


156     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

place  him  in  the  guard  house  for  invading  govern 
ment  property,  and  have  him  drummed  out  of 
camp,  as  an  example." 

But  we  could  not  see  it  that  way,  for  I  would 
rather  court-martial  them  and  have  the  sport,  and 
then  have  our  dear  beloved  Colonel  Theodore 
Roosevelt  have  a  good  big  hearty  laugh  over  it. 

At  Montauk  Point,  where  we  were  mustered  out 
of  service,  President  McKinley  came  to  see  our 
Regiment  of  Rough  Riders,  and  for  his  edification 
Colonel  Roosevelt  had  his  regiment  mount  and  pass 
in  review,  and  the  bugler  sounded  halt.  Then 
Roosevelt  gave  the  order  to  charge  as  if  in  battle, 
and  you  know  how  those  boys  could  ride  a  horse, 
and  those  Indian  yells,  and  shooting  as  if  in  actual 
battle  towards  the  Spaniards.  He  wheeled  to 
wards  President  McKinley,  and  said,  "Now,  Presi 
dent,  what  do  you  think  of  my  Boys  and  my 
regiment?"  "Splendid!  Grand,  Colonel!"  And 
indeed  Roosevelt  was  pleased,  and  the  troopers  put 
life  and  vim  into  that  last  reviewing  charge  of  the 
famous  1st  U.  S.  V.  Cavalry,  Roosevelt's  Rough 
Riders,  at  Montauk  Point. 

There  was  something  strange  about  Roosevelt. 
He  never  forgot  a  face  once  he  saw  it.  If  he  liked 
you,  you  was  his  friend.  If  he  disliked  you,  you 
had  better  steer  clear  of  him.  He  abhorred  a 
cringeing  man.  One  that  would  stand  up  squarely 
and  talk  right  out,  he  admired,  and  would  pat  you 
on  the  back  and  say,  "Glad  to  see  you."  He  knew 
every  member  of  his  Regiment  by  name,  and  their 
occupations,  and  he  would  give  them  good  advice. 
We  presented  him  with  a  large  bronze  bucking 
broncho,  made  by  Fred  Remington,  on  his  leave- 


THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR  157 

taking.  We  made  a  circle  and  he  certainly  made 
a  fine  speech  to  us,  and  hoped  the  boys  would  lead 
a  clean,  upright  life,  as  good  American  citizens, 
and  he  certainly  did  cry,  for  his  big  manly  heart 
was  full  at  his  leave-taking  of  his  old  Regiment 
of  Rough  Riders,  1898. 

Yours  respectfully, 

Tony  Gavin, 

Formerly  of  Troop  C,  1st  U.  S.  V.  Cav. 
Roosevelt  Rough  Riders. 

Gavin  speaks  of  the  sound  advice  given  by  his 
beloved  Colonel  in  his  farewell  speech.  Which 
leads  me  to  offer  this  bit  of  analysis  of  Roosevelt's 
character.  He  did  give  a  great  deal  of  ethical  ad 
vice.  And  it  was  sound,  pure,  noble  advice.  He 
really  did  a  great  deal  of  what  might  be  called 
"preaching",  if  we  were  ironically  disposed  so  to 
express  it.  And  I  venture  this  point  of  interpre 
tation  of  his  character:  That  he,  knowing  that  he 
did  this  and  knowing  that  the  world  usually  as 
sociates  such  "preaching",  such  enunciations  of 
"Sunday-school  talk",  with  milk-and-water  men, 
mollycoddles,  and  realizing  this,  deliberately  cul 
tivated,  often  conspicuously,  the  rough,  vigorous, 
almost  pugilistic  manner  and  speech  which  is  popu 
larly  associated  with  virile,  unsentimental  manhood. 
Indeed,  he  avows  practically  this  purpose  in  two 
or  three  places  in  his  Autobiography.  His  ex 
plosive  "Bully"  and  some  other  expressions  were 


158     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

more  or  less  camouflage  to  protect  his  fine,  sensi 
tive  idealism. 

Something  similar  might  be  said  of  his  full, 
whole-hearted  laughter.  There  was  a  bit  of  "pro 
tective  coloration"  in  it.  But  a  real  point  of  char 
acter  interpretation  I  raise  when  I  say  that  in  all 
his  relations  with  all  kinds  of  men,  his  sense  of 
humor  and  his  expression  of  it,  by  witticism  or 
laughter,  helped  him  greatly  to  form  friendly  ties 
with  associates.  This  was  especially  true  in  the 
critical,  exciting  days  of  the  Cuban  campaign.  If 
you  can  get  a  man  to  laugh  with  you,  you  have 
won  him.  And,  if  you  laugh  with  him,  you  prob 
ably  are  close  to  a  handshake  with  him. 

Roosevelt  had  keen  humor  perceptions,  intel 
lectually,  and  had  also  that  sensitive  nerve  system 
which  easily  explodes  in  laughter.  In  fact,  grop 
ing,  as  I  have  done,  for  the  secret  of  his  phenome 
nal  nerve-recuperative  power,  I  am  inclined  to  see 
in  Roosevelt's  free  and  frequent  relaxing  laughter 
a  partial  explanation  of  his  conservation  of  cor 
poreal  nerve-tone.  The  records  of  the  campaign 
in  Cuba  abound  in  humorous  incidents.  In  his 
volume,  "The  Rough  Riders",  he  quite  corroborates 
what  some  of  his  soldier-associates  have  told  me. 
He  shared  everything  he  could  with  them,  even 
the  humor.  But  some  of  the  most  ludicrous  things 
came  to  him  —  socially  trained  as  he  had  been  — 


THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR  159 

only  by  his  reading  between  the  lines  of  their  words 
and  actions.  For  example,  speaking  of  the  infrac 
tions  of  military  etiquette  which  were  inevitable 
among  such  wild,  untrammeled  spirits  as  were 
most  of  the  enlisted  men,  he  says:  "The  lapses  into 
which  they  fell,  at  times,  were  merely  those  of 
inexperience.  When  Holderman,  in  announcing 
dinner  to  the  Colonel  and  three  Majors,  genially 
remarked,  'If  you  fellers  don't  come  soon,  every- 
thing'll  get  cold',  he  had  the  best  of  kindly  inten 
tions;  and  he  was  glad  to  modify  his  form  of  ad 
dress  when  told  that  it  was  not  strictly  in  line  with 
the  best  military  code." 

Broad-minded  cosmopolitan  that  he  already  was, 
Roosevelt  saw  clearly  the  comparative  values  of  the 
human  qualities  around  him.  It  really  "delighted" 
him  when  one  of  the  new  recruits  came  up  to  him 
and  poured  out  the  following  honest  statement. 
"Colonel,  I  want  to  shake  hands  and  say  we're  with 
you.  We  didn't  know,  at  first,  how  we'd  like  you 
fellers;  but  you're  all  right,  and  we're  with  you. 
You  can  count  on  us." 

Perhaps  the  best  of  all  the  little  "touches  of 
human  nature"  that  "make  the  whole  world  kin" 
is  the  one  which  Roosevelt  records: 

"The  Colonel  and  I  strolled  out,  near  midnight, 
to  get  the  air.  The  sentinel  near  our  tent  was 
fighting  the  vicious  mosquitoes.  I  saw  him  pitch 


160     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

his  gun  ten  feet  off  and  sit  down  to  get  at  such 
pests  as  had  swarmed  up  his  trouser-legs.  Glanc 
ing  in  our  direction,  he  discovered  us,  nodded 
pleasantly,  and  with  unabashed  and  friendly  feel 
ing,  remarked,  'Ain't  they  bad!'"  Nothing  more 
delightfully  intime  than  that  in  French  Army 
annals. 

The  sympathy  which  the  Spanish  War  devel 
oped  between  the  Rough  Riders  and  their  devoted 
"Colonel"  never  died  out  during  Roosevelt's  life, 
and  it  led  to  many  touching  incidents,  grave  and 
gay,  in  later  years,  which  may  be  properly  termed, 
in  medical  nomenclature,  sequelce.  Often  during 
his  occupancy  of  the  White  House,  veterans  of 
that  splendid  organization  appealed  to  him  as 
confidently  as  to  their  own  brother.  It  is  said  that 
Congressman  Grosvenor  sought  an  audience  one 
day  at  the  White  House  and  was  denied  admis 
sion.  "The  President  is  engaged,"  said  the  page. 
"Who  is  in  there?"  demanded  Congressman  Gros 
venor  impatiently.  "Oh,  one  of  his  old  Rough 
Riders,  I  think."  And  the  angry  Congressman, 
blending  his  vexation  with  a  saving  sense  of  humor, 
exclaimed,  as  he  turned  away,  "Then  there's  no 
hope  for  me.  A  mere  Congressman  doesn't  stand 
any  chance  at  all  against  a  Rough  Rider." 

There  is  another  of  these  unique  appeals  which 


THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR  161 

is  already  —  and  will  perhaps  remain  for  all  time 
—  a  "classic."    In  Roosevelt's  own  words,  thus: 

"Among  the  many  letters  which  I  received  from 
men  of  my  old  regiment  came  this:  'Dear  Colonel: 
I  write  you  because  I  am  in  trouble.  I  have  shot 
a  lady  in  the  eye.  But,  Colonel,  I  was  not  aiming 
at  the  lady.  I  was  aiming  at  my  wife.'  That 
excuse  he  evidently  regarded  as  a  sufficient  one, 
between  'men  of  the  world.'  But  I  wrote  him  that 
I  drew  the  line  altogether  at  shooting  at  ladies." 

One  incident,  which  I  have  seen  in  garbled  form 
in  print,  has  been  given  me  correctly  by  an  eye 
witness,  my  classmate  and  Roosevelt's  classmate, 
the  late  Vanderlyn  Stow,  of  San  Francisco. 
Roosevelt,  during  his  presidency,  visited  California 
in  company  with  his  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Wil 
liam  Moody.  The  Bohemian  Club  of  San  Fran 
cisco  hoped  to  get  him  to  come  to  San  Francisco  and 
address  the  club.  Mr.  Stow  saw  that  this  was 
asking  too  much,  for  it  would  establish  a  bad 
precedent.  But  he  yielded  —  being  president  of  the 
club  —  to  his  fellow  members'  urging.  He  went 
down  and  met  Roosevelt  at  Monterey.  The  three 
men  lunched  together.  Stow  preferred  his  request, 
in  a  perfunctory  way,  with  the  expected  result. 
The  general  conversation  was  resumed.  Roose 
velt  was  in  exuberant  spirits.  Presently  he  said, 
eyes  twinkling  mischievously,  "Secretary  Moody 


162      ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

has  just  accused  me  of  a  grave  offense.  He  has 
said  that  I  show  favoritism  to  my  old  Rough 
Riders,  that  I  put  them  all  into  offices." 

He  paused;  and  Moody  replied,  in  that  delib 
erate  way  which  always  gave  weight  to  his  humor, 
"I  think  you  mistook  me,  Mr.  President.  I  believe 
I  did  not  say  that  you  put  them  all  into  offices,  but 
that  you  put  in  all  who  were  not  already  in  jail." 
And  Stow  declared  that  Roosevelt  laughed  so 
heartily  at  the  keen  rejoinder  that  he  nearly  fell 
off  his  chair. 

Thus  comes  to  an  end  this  chapter  on  Theodore 
Roosevelt's  career  at  Washington,  in  the  Navy 
Department,  and  in  Cuba  as  a  soldier,  on  a  real 
field  of  battle.  And  again  I  assert  that  Theodore 
Roosevelt  loved  fighting  in  the  cause  of  Right. 
He  was  the  happiest  of  warriors,  as  he  intimated  to 
his  intimate  friend,  Charles  Washburn.  The 
charge  up  that  San  Juan  Ridge  was  the  most  en 
joyable  episode  of  his  life. 

In  closing,  I  look  up  at  a  beautiful  bronze  bas- 
relief  over  my  desk,  portraying  in  silhouette  the 
face  of  my  honored  and  beloved  classmate.  And 
across  the  base  of  that  plate,  below  the  head,  I 
read  these  words  quoted  from  Roosevelt's  writings 
and  molded  lastingly  into  the  metal  fabric,— -"Ag 
gressive  fighting  for  the  right  is  the  noblest  sport 
the  world  affords." 


CHAPTER  X 

GOVERNOR  OF  THE  EMPIRE  STATE 

When  Roosevelt  returned  from  Cuba,  and  the 
transport  steamer  was  off  Montauk  Point,  some 
body  shouted  to  him  from  another  vessel,  "How 
are  you  feeling,  Colonel?"  And  the  reply  went 
back  promptly,  "Disgracefully  well."  In  that 
impulsive  reply  the  sincerity  and  sympathy  of  the 
man  found  spontaneous  expression.  His  saddened 
thought  was  of  his  "Boys"  -  some  killed,  many 
wounded,  and  many  stricken  by  fever.  And  he  - 
well  and  strong.  It  was  a  characteristic  exclama 
tion  from  a  tender,  generous  heart. 

He  needed,  however,  all  that  health  and  strength, 
during  the  struggle  before  him  in  his  native  State. 
The  Republican  Party  of  New  York  needed  him 
to  prevent  its  defeat  in  the  approaching  guberna 
torial  election.  For  he,  by  force  of  circumstances 
and  by  his  own  splendid  military  record,  was  "The 
Man  on  Horseback."  In  France,  after  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War  of  1870,  George  Ernest  Boulanger, 
loaded  with  military  honors,  returned  to  Paris. 
And  the  title  of  "The  Man  on  Horseback"  was 


164      ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

given  him.  It  expressed  his  prestige  and  power 
gained  on  the  battle  field.  A  far  nobler  type  was 
Colonel  Theodore  Roosevelt;  but  the  two  men  re 
sembled  each  other  for  that  hour  in  their  popularity 
and  influence. 

The  Republican  Party  needed  Roosevelt.  But 
Senator  Thomas  C.  Platt,  "boss"  of  the  party,  was 
"in  a  strait  betwixt  two."  He  desired  victory  for 
his  party,  but  he  dreaded  admitting  this  bold  young 
reformer  into  the  inner  political  circles.  Platt  at 
this  time  was  sixty-seven  years  old,  and  quite  in 
firm  physically;  and  Roosevelt  was  thirty  years 
old,  and  physically  at  his  maximum  of  strength. 
Of  him  intellectually  it  must  be  said  that  he  was  a 
growing  man,  and  had  not  then  attained  all  the 
wisdom  and  power  of  his  later  years.  But  he  was 
practically  the  most  striking  personality  in  the 
country  and  seemed  to  Platt  the  most  promising 
gubernatorial  Republican  candidate.  Regarding 
Mr.  Platt's  mental  equipment  at  this  period,  we 
might  use  Roosevelt's  own  caustic  words  of  later 
date:  "I  could  not  find  that  he  had  a  taste  for 
anything  except  politics,  and,  on  rare  occasions, 
for  a  dry  theology  quite  divorced  from  moral 
implications." 

As  soon  as  Colonel  Roosevelt  landed,  he  was 
met  by  Lemuel  Quigg,  discreet  agent  of  Senator 
Platt.  Together  with  Douglas  Robinson  the  two 


GOVERNOR  OF  THE  EMPIRE  STATE      165 

men  conversed,  sitting  in  Roosevelt's  tent.  Of 
course  the  errand  upon  which  Mr.  Quigg  had  come 
was  apparent  to  the  three  men.  Senator  Platt  had 
sent  him  to  sound  this  young  Lochinvar,  and  to 
judge  whether  he  could  be  trusted,  after  he  got 
the  election  —  which  seemed  quite  sure  —  to  "work 
harmoniously"  with  "Boss"  Platt,  which  meant 
giving  Platt  his  own  way  in  everything  he  cared 
about  and  taking  what  he  left. 

During  two  hours  they,  talked.  Quigg  clothed 
his  anxious  inquiries  in  the  usual  political  cant,  and 
Roosevelt  gave  the  plain,  unyielding  reply  that  if 
elected  he  would  confer  with  Platt  and  with  others 
on  the  various  questions  as  they  arose  and  then 
would  himself  decide.  Further,  he  declared  that 
he  sincerely  desired  harmony  of  policy  and  the 
good  of  both  the  party  and  the  State. 

With  that  message  —  the  best  he  could  extract 
from  Roosevelt  —  Quigg  went  back  to  Platt,  the 
campaign  was  soon  on,  and  the  young  reformer, 
fresh  from  Cuban  victories,  went  up  and  down 
the  State  in  a  whirlwind  campaign,  enjoying  it  all 
to  the  full,  and  gaining  supporters  every  time  he 
spoke.  Jacob  Riis  and  other  admirers  shared  in 
the  toil  and  the  delights  of  the  campaign.  Riis 
records  that  one  ardent  cowboy  Rough  Rider, 
"Buck"  Taylor,  speaking  at  a  rally,  exhorted  his 
hearers  to  'Toiler  ma  Colonel!  Toiler  ma  Colonel! 


166     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

An'  he'll  lead  you,  as  he  led  us,  like  lambs  to  the 
slaughter."  Cautious,  anxious  Thomas  C.  Platt, 
professional  politician,  gave  him  a  half-hearted, 
hopeful  support.  He  said  afterward,  "Roosevelt 
made  a  dramatic  campaign.  He  fairly  pranced  up 
and  down  the  State.  And  he  called  a  spade  'a 
spade'  and  a  crook  'a  crook.' ' 

Early  in  the  campaign  Roosevelt  showed 
strategic  acumen.  The  Democratic  candidate, 
Judge  Van  Wyck,  was  a  man  of  good  character 
and  capacity,  and  he  was  not  much  open  to  attack 
personally.  But  his  political  lieutenant,  Croker, 
"Boss"  of  Tammany,  was  a  man  of  inferior  grade; 
"a  powerful  and  truculent  man"  Roosevelt  calls 
him.  The  young  reformer  attacked  Croker,  drew 
him  into  the  open,  and  there  made  his  fight,  show 
ing  the  "Boss"  up  as  the  real  and  corrupt  leader 
of  the  Democratic  forces.  It  was  an  easier,  more 
definite  contest,  thus,  than  it  could  have  been 
against  Van  Wyck. 

The  result  of  the  campaign  was  that  Roosevelt 
was  elected,  but  by  only  the  narrow  margin  of 
eighteen  thousand  plurality.  One  reason  for  the 
narrowness  of  this  margin  was  that  the  more  ex 
treme  "Independents",  so  called,  stood  out  against 
Roosevelt.  They  were  men  of  the  academic  type, 
with  high,  vague  aims  and  a  narrow  range  of  per 
ceptions  and  sympathies.  The  trenchant  —  and 


GOVERNOR  OF  THE  EMPIRE  STATE      167 

somewhat  heated  —  description  of  them  given  by 
Roosevelt  was  that  "their  'Independence'  con 
sisted  of  one  part  moral  obliquity  and  two  parts 
mental  infirmity."  They  demanded  of  him  that  he 
defy  Platt  in  good,  old-fashioned,  stage-drama 
fashion.  They  had  not  the  breadth  of  mind  to  see 
that  he  was  trying  to  get  all  the  help  he  could  from 
Platt  and  the  professional  politicians  of  the  party, 
corrupt  though  they  might  be.  This  was  his  wise, 
fruitful  policy  throughout  his  term  of  office.  As 
a  discerning  friend  wrote  about  him,  "He  did  not 
intend  to  pose  on  the  solitary  gubernatorial  peak 
of  abortive  righteousness." 

After  his  election,  one  of  our  classmates  asked 
Roosevelt  jocosely,  "Now,  Theodore,  what  kind 
of  a  governor  are  you  going  to  be?"  And  the  reply 
was  ready.  "I'm  going  to  be  just  as  good  a  kind 
as  the  politicians  will  let  me  be."  That  reply  re 
vealed  the  two  factors  in  his  public  career  which 
now  were  becoming  fixed  in  his  mind  and  will.  He 
determined  to  push  his  methods  and  reforms  as 
close  up  to  perfection  as  he  could  push  them, — and 
still  keep  the  support  of  the  more  or  less  imperfect 
party  that  elected  him.  His  purpose  might  be 
described  not  as  a  vacuous  circle,  like  that  of  the 
theoretical,  easily  shelved  "Independents",  but  as 
a  productive  ellipse,  with  two  centers,  the  one 
idealistic  and  the  other  practical. 


168     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

A  brief  description  of  him  I  here  cite,  as  given 
by  Charles  G.  Washburn  in  the  course  of  an  elo 
quent  memorial  address  made  in  Boston  by  him  on 
October  27,  1920.  "What  manner  of  man  was 
this  whom  we  honor  to-night?  A  man  unlike  any 
other  man  whom  we  have  ever  known  or  read  about, 
a  character  as  transparent  as  a  child's,  tender  in 
his  family  relations,  a  faithful  friend,  —  but,  when 
roused,  in  conflict  terrible;  and,  when  fighting  for 
a  great  cause,  he  loved  to  ride  on  the  whirlwind 
and  direct  the  storm." 

That  was  the  mature  man  —  he  was  already  that, 
at  the  age  of  thirty  —  who  was  entering  the  arena 
of  New  York  politics.  No  wonder  that  Croker 
raged  and  Platt  trembled.  Coming  events  were 
"casting  their  shadows  before"  -  for  corrupt  poli 
ticians  in  both  the  great  parties. 

When  once  entered  upon  his  duties  as  Governor, 
Roosevelt  put  the  same  energy  and  industry  into 
his  work  that  he  had  always  put  into  whatever  work 
lay  before  him.  In  scores  of  ways  he  went  beyond 
the  routine  duties  of  his  office  and  improved  and 
reformed  existing  conditions.  That  was  his  fixed 
attitude  toward  public  affairs.  He  found  time  — 
resting  himself,  perhaps  —  to  write  his  "Rough 
Riders"  and  "Oliver  Cromwell."  Looking  back 
now  at  his  two  years  as  Governor,  we  may  say  that 
his  greatest  work  was  shown  in  four  important 


GOVERNOR  OF  THE  EMPIRE  STATE       169 

measures  which  he  pushed  through.  They  were, 
first,  through  the  suggestion  of  Riis,  the  creation 
of  the  Tenement  House  Commission  Bill.  It  was, 
in  large  measure,  a  following  up  and  enforcing 
of  the  sweatshop  reform  which  he  had  taken  up 
when  an  assemblyman.  Second,  the  office  of  Su 
perintendent  of  Public  Works,  involving  control 
of  the  State  canals,  needed  revision;  and  Roosevelt 
revised  it.  Third,  the  big  corporations  who  had 
obtained  franchises  to  use  public  thoroughfares  for 
street  railways  had  never  shared  their  profits  with 
the  People,  the  Public,  who  really  owned  those 
thoroughfares  and  from  whom  the  corporations 
had  obtained  the  right  of  way.  Roosevelt  made 
those  companies  pay  for  value  received.  Then, 
fourth,  there  was  the  office  of  Superintendent  of 
Insurance.  The  man  who  held  that  governmental 
position  was  engaged  in  various  business  enter 
prises  which  prevented  him  from  being  wholly  free 
and  disinterested  in  carrying  out  the  duties  of  his 
office.  Roosevelt  replaced  him  with  a  less  involved 
official. 

In  all  these  acts  Roosevelt  met  intense  opposi 
tion,  on  the  part  of  Platt  and  other  "bosses",  and 
on  the  part  of  the  corporations  and  individuals 
whose  incomes  and  honors  and  peace  of  mind  he 
disturbed.  He  was  clearly  aware  of  the  compli 
cated  conditions  under  which  he  worked.  Mr. 


170     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

Hagerdorn,  in  his  excellent  "Boy's  Life  of  Roose 
velt",  has  put  this  situation  into  a  succinct  para 
graph.  "Roosevelt's  struggle  was  not  a  simple 
one.  He  could  repudiate  Platt  and  his  confed 
erates,  and  win  popular  applause  by  doing  it.  Or, 
he  could  accept  Platt's  dictation  and  thus  secure 
the  support  of  the  powerful  'Machine'  in  his  future 
career.  If  he  took  the  former  course,  he  would  be 
unable  to  execute  real  reforms  in  any  direction.  If 
he  took  the  second  course,  he  would  forfeit  his  own 
self-respect.  Seeing  this  dilemma  he  took  neither 
horn  of  it.  He  neither  accepted  Platt  as  'Boss', 
nor  did  he  repudiate  him,  wholly.  He  cooperated 
with  him  whenever  that  was  possible,  and  he  fought 
him  only  on  fundamental  issues  of  right  and 
wrong." 

Thus  was  made  manifest  Roosevelt's  growth  in 
wisdom  since  the  days  when  as  an  assemblyman  he 
aimed  at  similar  reforms,  but  aimed  at  accomplish 
ing  them  single-handed  and  alone. 

The  four  measures  which  I  have  named  —  re 
form,  essentially  —  gave  him  opportunity  to  put 
forth  all  that  vigor  and  unyielding  determination 
which  was  in  him;  in  the  case  of  the  Ford  Fran 
chise  Bill,  approved  by  Roosevelt  and  disapproved 
by  Platt,  the  young  Governor  fought  the  aged  Boss 
and  his  minions  to  a  finish.  He  sent  an  urgent 
message  with  the  Bill  into  the  Legislature;  but 


GOVERNOR  OF  THE  EMPIRE  STATE      171 

the  Speaker,  in  a  rage,  tore  it  up.  Again  looking 
carefully  over  the  merits  of  the  Bill,  Roosevelt 
sent  to  the  Legislature  another  message,  urging 
the  passage  of  this  important  Bill,  and  intimated 
that  if  it  were  not  properly  read,  he  himself  in 
person  would  go  to  the  Assembly  Hall  and  present 
it.  That  bold  stand  carried  a  panic  into  the  op 
position  and  they  passed  the  Bill  with  a  rush. 

As  I  try  to  analyze  and  even  catalogue  Roose 
velt's  extraordinary  qualities,  the  Insurance  Bill 
especially  draws  my  attention.  In  this  way. 
Platt  wished  the  then  Superintendent  of  Insurance 
to  be  retained.  Roosevelt  believed  that  a  change 
was  needed  in  that  office,  and  resolved  to  fight  the 
matter  through.  He  went  over  a  little  toward  the 
Boss  by  suggesting  a  man  who  was  Platt's  friend. 
Then  he  stood  squarely  on  that  position.  Letters 
passed  between  Platt  and  Roosevelt,  each  man 
unyielding.  It  was  a  deadlock. 

Then  came  a  situation,  unique  in  itself  and  il 
luminating  as  to  Roosevelt's  character.  When  I 
was  in  college,  I  was  indulgently  given  two  hours' 
instruction  in  the  murky,  strabismic  game  of 
poker.  The  lesson  cost  me  two  dollars  and  sixty 
cents.  All  the  knowledge  I  now  retain  concerning 
that  unfriendly  pastime  is  a  sense  of  the  singular 
factitious  power  of  "bluff."  This  "bluff"  was 


172     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

never  better  exemplified  than  in  that  case  of  the 
Insurance  appointee. 

Roosevelt  had  determined  upon  a  certain  can 
didate,  a  reasonably  efficient,  desirable  man,  really 
one  of  Platt's  friends.  Platt  demurred  and 
warned  Roosevelt  in  so  many  spoken  words  that 
it  was  now  "war  to  the  knife."  Soon  afterward 
a  message  came  from  one  of  Platt's  henchmen, 
asking  where  he  could  meet  Roosevelt.  Roosevelt 
named  the  Union  League  Club.  Accordingly  the 
two  met  there.  The  authorized  agent  of  Platt's 
went  over  all  the  ground  afresh,  trying  to  persuade 
Roosevelt  to  put  in  Platt's  chosen  man.  The 
dramatic  scene  might  be  put  into  dramatic  form, 
thus: 

Platt's  Agent:  "This  is  your  last  chance,  Gov 
ernor  Roosevelt.  Ruin  is  ahead  of  you  if  you 
continue  to  disregard  Senator  Platt's  wishes." 

Roosevelt  (shaking  his  head  negatively)  :  "There 
is  nothing  to  be  added  to  what  I  have  already  said." 
Platt's  Agent:  "You  have  made  up  your  mind?" 
Roosevelt  (firmly)  :  "I  have." 
Agent:  "You  know  it  means  your  ruin?" 
Roosevelt:   "Well,  we'll  see  about  that." 
Agent:    "The  fight  will  begin  to-morrow  and 
will  go  to  the  bitter  end.    You  understand?" 
Roosevelt:    "Yes?  I  understand,"      (He  opens 


GOVERNOR  OF  THE  EMPIRE  STATE      173 

the  door  to  go  out.  As  he  does  this,  Platt's  agent 
suddenly  calls  to  him.) 

Agent:  "Hold  on!  We  accept.  Senator  Platt 
will  withdraw  his  opposition." 

That  ended  the  game.  And  that  it  was  a  real 
game  of  Poker,  with  the  "bluff"  feature  strong 
on  the  agent's  part,  Roosevelt  indicates  when  he 
says  of  the  interview,  with  his  sense  of  humor  show 
ing  through :  "His  face,  throughout  the  interview, 
was  as  impassive  and  inscrutable  as  that  of  Mr. 
John  Hamlin,  in  a  poker  game." 

This  situation  was  a  vital  and  typical  one,  in 
Roosevelt's  career.  He  once  said  to  a  group  of  us 
college  friends,  as  he  looked  back  over  his  public 
career,  "Two  or  three  times  in  my  life  I  have  stood 
as  with  my  back  to  a  wall,  facing  impending  and 
probable  defeat  and  ruin,  so  far  as  my  public  career 
was  concerned.  But  in  those  two  or  three  cases 
the  scales  of  good  fortune  turned  my  way.  Per 
haps  that  is  what  they  sometimes  call  'Roosevelt 
Luck.'  But  it  was  'Luck'  only  in  part,  at  least." 
And  he  said  one  day  to  our  Class  Secretary,  Mr. 
John  Woodbury,  as  the  two  walked  down  Park 
Street,  Boston,  together,  "There  are  some  things 
I  can  do,  some  I  can't  do,  and  some  I  simply 
won't  do." 

That  yielding  to  Platt,  that  continuing  an  in 
competent  henchman  of  Platt's  in  an  important 


174     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

office  was  one  of  the  things  "I  won't  do."  And  the 
point  which  I  enjoy  most,  in  that  temporary  break 
with  the  powerful  New  York  Boss,  is  the  tenacity 
of  purpose  which  Roosevelt  evinced.  If  you  had 
seen  Roosevelt  at  a  dinner  party,  or  in  a  group  of 
friends,  you  might  have  said  readily,  "A  brilliant 
man.  But  has  he  got  stability  and  persistence  in 
a  long  fight?"  That  Insurance  controversy  with 
Platt  is  a  sufficient  reply.  And  we  are  confirmed 
in  our  affirmation  that  an  important  element  in 
Roosevelt's  greatness  was  his  possession,  in  a  re 
markable  degree,  of  diverse  qualities  usually  found 
only  singly  in  men.  The  old  saying  has  it  that 
"Take  Hold  is  a  good  dog,  but  Hold  Fast  is  a 
better."  In  Roosevelt's  fighting  equipment  both 
qualities  were  combined. 

During  those  joyous  two  years  of  his  governor 
ship,  the  glamor  of  a  growing  popular  support  did 
not  blind  him  to  the  inherent  fickleness  of  popular 
favor.  He  looked  facts  and  conditions  straight  in 
the  face  and  did  not  delude  himself.  In  a  letter 
to  his  sister  at  this  period,  he  said,  "Just  at  this 
moment  I  am  on  the  crest  of  the  wave.  But  I 
know  that  after  a  crest  comes  a  hollow."  This 
same  figure  of  speech  he  used  years  later,  on  his 
return  from  Africa,  as  he  talked  at  a  complimen 
tary  dinner  given  him  at  Sherry's  in  New  York 
City.  But,  even  as  he  did  in  the  gubernatorial  days, 


GOVERNOR  OF  THE  EMPIRE  STATE      175 

he  was  earnestly  and  persistently  using  every 
means  to  remain  on  the  "crest"  as  long  as  possible. 

He  was  also  steadily  pursuing  the  same  method 
of  getting  through  the  cordon  of  inimical  poli 
ticians  which  hemmed  him  in  and  of  reaching  the 
masses  of  the  people  outside,  which  he  followed 
afterward  in  his  Presidency.  He  called  press  re 
porters  regularly  to  his  office  and  explained  his  aims 
and  plans,  and  counted  upon  their  aid  in  putting 
him  clearly  and  honestly  before  the  reading  public. 
Always  his  hope  of  support  in  his  stern  reform 
methods  lay  in  the  intelligence  and  morality  of  the 
body  of  the  American  people  as  against  the  wiles 
and  thrusts  of  the  self-seeking,  habitual  politicians. 

There  is  one  other  significant  feature  of  his 
official  life  as  Governor  of  New  York  which  should 
not  be  overlooked.  It  is  his  attitude  toward  the 
enforcement  of  the  statutes  for  capital  punishment. 
Setting  aside  my  knowledge  of  the  facts,  I  would 
know,  from  my  knowledge  of  his  character,  that  he 
would  believe  in  punishing  by  death  the  commission 
of  an  act  of  deliberate,  willful  murder.  Quite  as  I 
would  dare  assert  —  without  asking  his  opinion  — 
that  he  believed  in  "freedom  of  the  will."  Such 
a  belief  was  a  component  part  of  his  nature,  force 
ful,  self-reliant,  never  self-excusing,  but  conscious 
of  responsibility.  Similarly,  of  capital  punishment. 
Such  a  nature  as  his  —  strong  in  its  sense  of  jus- 


176     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

tice,  facing  fearlessly  the  whole  gamut  of  human 
motives,  low  as  well  as  high  —  such  a  nature  would 
never  submerge  memories  of  a  dead  victim  in  the 
scented  waters  of  a  sentimental  clemency  toward 
a  craven  criminal  who  begged  for  that  boon  which 
he  had  coldly  denied  another.  So,  when  tender 
hearted  Jacob  Riis  went  to  him  and  besought  him 
to  commute  the  death  sentence  of  a  certain  relent 
less  murderer,  he  suspended  judgment  for  a  few 
hours,  went  over  the  case  anew,  then  wrote  a  kind 
but  stern  letter  to  Riis,  declining  to  pardon. 
"Whatever  I  do,"  he  wrote  in  that  letter,  "I  do 
because,  after  painful  groping,  I  see  my  path  of 
duty." 

His  was  a  tender  heart.  As  Oscar  Straus 
earnestly  assured  me,  "There  never  was  one  more 
tender"  — but  his  sense  of  right  was  deep-rooted, 
and  his  perceptions  of  the  need  of  law-enforcement 
he  never  lost.  He  abhorred  the  graveyard  charac 
ter  of  our  statute  books.  He  believed  only  in  laws 
which  "had  teeth";  perhaps  his  own  smile  —  some 
times  cheery,  yet  again  grim  and  threatening - 
might  be  said  to  symbolize  this,  his  strong  con 
viction. 

The  term  of  Roosevelt's  governorship  now  drew 
to  a  close.  Although  it  had  been  an  almost  con 
tinuous  campaign  of  strategy  and  strife,  he  had 
enjoyed  it.  He  said  so,  in  a  letter  of  February  1, 


GOVERNOR  OF  THE  EMPIRE  STATE      177 

1900,  to  Senator  Platt:  "In  spite  of  all  the  work 
and  all  the  worry,  I  have  thoroughly  enjoyed  being 
Governor." 

One  source  of  his  happiness  during  those  two 
strenuous  years  was  the  rich,  beautiful  home  life 
that  was  his  at  Oyster  Bay.  In  the  Executive 
Chamber  at  Albany  he  stoodr  always  watchful, 
challenging,  like  a  soldier  on  guard.  Threats 
hovered  in  the  air  about  him,  and  snares  were 
spread  for  his  feet.  He  loved  that  kind  of  life, 
but  it  was  one  of  extreme  tension.  At  Oyster  Bay, 
on  the  contrary,  love  and  sympathy  encompassed 
him,  and-  he  returned  it  in  kind  to  wife  and  children. 

There  is  a  period  in  the  continuity  of  even  the 
happiest  and  most  ideal  homes  when  the  forces  of 
mutual  service  and  good  will  are  at  their  maximum. 
In  the  earlier  years  of  home  life,  with  children 
immature,  these  forces  are  less  balanced,  less 
reciprocal.  Loving  parents  lavish  attention  on 
little  ones  with  but  little  intelligent,  commensurate 
response.  Then,  as  the  children  reach  the  ages  of 
four  and  five  years,  and  thence  on  to  the  ages  of 
fifteen  and  sixteen,  there  is  an  increasing  unity  of 
affection,  which  fades  somewhat  after  those  ages, 
as  boys  and  girls  seek  more  and  more  the  compan 
ionship  of  their  own  generation.  During  that 
flowering  period,  the  mother  and  father  can  give 
companionship  that  is  wholly  satisfying  to  the 


178     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

young  people.  After  it  they  must  be  content  to 
step  gradually  aside,  and  —  still  near  at  hand,  not 
afar  off  —  see  those  young  people  seek  sympathy 
from  friends  of  their  own  age. 

This  is  the  inevitable  course  of  evolution  in  the 
normal  happy  family.  And  this  period  came  to 
the  group  at  Oyster  Bay  at  about  the  time  when 
the  father  of  the  family  was  also  the  Governor  of 
the  State.  It  lasted  through  the  days  of  his 
Presidency,  and  it  evolved  normally,  happily,  into 
the  period  following  it,  when  the  father  and  mother 
gradually  gave  over  their  authority  and  control 
into  the  hands  of  the  children  themselves,  now  fitted 
by  wise  training  for  a  self-reliant  and  self-con 
tained  manhood  and  womanhood. 

This  is  the  law  in  all  true  homes.  And  at  Oyster 
Bay  it  was  really  beautifully  exemplified.  The 
father  shared  fully  and  poignantly  the  interests 
and  aims  of  his  children.  He  shared  their  laughter 
and  their  tears.  For  him,  when  with  them,  the 
cares  of  governorships  and  presidencies  ceased  to 
exist.  No  American  home  ever  was  sweeter,  truer, 
and  nobler  than  that  at  Oyster  Bay.  When 
political  enemies  searched  far  and  wide,  high  and 
low,  for  missiles  which  they  might  hurl  against 
Roosevelt,  they  never  had  a  defamatory  word  to 
offer  about  his  home  life. 

Both  the  mother  and  the  father  of  that  loving 


GOVERNOR  OF  THE  EMPIRE  STATE      179 

group  were  exceptional  people.  The  whole  world 
knows  now  the  exalted  character  of  that  father, 
but  not  so  many  people  know  the  wise,  tender 
motherhood  which  was  enshrined  beneath  that  roof. 
With  her  delicate,  reserved  nature,  she  comple 
mented  the  impetuous,  originative  nature  of  her 
husband.  Intelligent,  with  cultivated  tastes,  she 
could  give  the  intellectual  sympathy  as  well  as  the 
warm  human  affection  which  he  craved,  —  and 
gave  in  return. 

That  restful  heart-satisfying  companionship 
which  they  bestowed,  without  effort,  on  each  other 
was  made  evident  in  many  ways ;  for  example,  by 
the  way  in  which  they  sought,  again  and  again, 
each  other's  society  in  walks  and  drives  and  boat 
ing.  There  was  between  them  the  same  absolute 
trust  and  deep  content  which  Mrs.  Custer,  wife 
of  General  George  Custer,  describes  in  a  homely 
and  humorous  but  meaning-full  line  of  her  book 
of  reminiscences.  She  shared  a  considerable  part 
of  her  husband's  adventurous  military  life  on  the 
Western  frontier.  And  she  says  in  her  book,  "The 
General  declared  that  he  was  sure  that  he  really 
loved  me  because  'he  liked  so  much  to  have  me 
around.' ' 

A  classmate  has  said  to  me  again  and  again,  as 
we  have  recalled  and  discussed  our  eminent  class 
mate,  "Roosevelt  will  stand  as  an  example  and 


180     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

model  before  the  young  and  old  of  this  nation  in 
more  ways,  on  more  sides  of  his  character,  than  any 
American  that  we  yet  know,  —  without  exception." 
I  heartily  agree,  and  I  point  out,  apropos  of  his 
home  life,  how  wisely,  how  sanely  he  directed  the 
molding  of  his  children's  characters.  No  senti 
mentality  but  quick,  keen  sympathy.  No  airy, 
unsubstantial  fads  in  education,  but  intelligent 
observation  and  the  firm  application  of  the  psycho 
logical  laws  of  character  building.  In  the  earliest 
years  he  exacted  unhesitating  obedience  to  his  own 
wish  and  word.  Then,  gradually,  as  their  powers 
of  judgment  and  ratiocination  unfolded,  he  turned 
over  to  them  decision  as  to  their  conduct.  He 
became,  in  time,  their  counsellor,  only  leaving  to 
them  the  casting  vote.  He  pointed  them,  more 
and  more,  to  obedience  to  that  truth  and  right  to 
which  they  saw  him  obedient.  And  splendid  re 
sults  justified  his  wise,  loving — although  some 
times  almost  Spartan  —  code. 

This  period  —  perhaps  from  1900  to  1G10  —  was 
approximately  the  one  in  which  he  wrote  his 
"Letters  to  His  Children",  that  revealing  volume 
edited  by  Mr.  Bishop.  The  book  softened  the 
hearts  and  modified  the  distrustful  attitude  of 
thousands  of  people  throughout  the  world.  They 
had  followed  too  blindly  the  lead  of  Roosevelt's 
enemies,  writing  and  speaking,  and  had  thought 


GOVERNOR  OF  THE  EMPIRE  STATE      181 

of  him  as  a  fierce  metallic  war-fanatic.  And  now, 
as  they  read  those  touching  revelations  of  fatherly 
sympathy,  they  felt  assured  that  they  came  at  the 
real  man,  affectionate  and  tender;  and  they  gave 
him  —  fathers,  mothers,  friends,  readers,  the  wide 
world  over  —  their  approval  and  regard. 

Those  fascinating  letters  run  through  a  period 
of  several  years.  His  intimate  interest  in  the 
affairs  of  the  little  people,  his  sharing  of  the  child 
ish  aims  and  interests,  even  his  charming,  amusing 
pet  names,  little  loving  diminutives,  give  "the 
touch  of  nature  which  makes  the  whole  world  kin," 
and  do  reveal,  not  a  new  Roosevelt,  but  a  new 
character  facet  of  that  many-sided  man. 

Much  as  he  enjoyed  the  pastimes  and  picnics  at 
that  ideal  home  at  Oyster  Bay,  he  had  enjoyed 
no  less  the  continuous  fighting  that  went  with  his 
reform  work  as  Governor.  For  he  was  not  only 
the  loving  father,  the  tender  husband,  the  faithful 
friend,  —  he  was  also  and  always  "The  Happy 
Warrior." 

"Who  is  the  Happy  Warrior? — 
He  who  though  thus  endued  as  with  a  sense 
And  faculty  for  storm  and  turbulence, 
Is  yet  a  Soul  whose  master-bias  leans 
To  homefelt  pleasures  and  to  gentle  scenes/' 


CHAPTER  XI 

A  RELUCTANT  VICE-PRESIDENT 

When  that  devout  monk  and  eloquent  preacher, 
Peter  the  Hermit,  called  upon  Christendom,  in  the 
year  1096,  to  rescue  the  Holy  Sepulcher  at 
Jerusalem  from  infidel  hands,  he  declared  in  his 
passionate,  persuasive  exhortation,  "God  wills  it, 
God  wills  it!"  Many  critical  historians  to-day,  as 
they  survey  the  highways  of  the  past,  may  doubt 
the  truth  of  that  asseveration.  Yet  even  among 
the  least  sympathetic  of  these  critics  might  be 
found  those  who  would  hold  that  "There's  a 
divinity  that  shapes  our  ends,  rough-hew  them  how 
we  will." 

We  come  now  to  a  point  in  Theodore  Roose 
velt's  career  where  —  if  we  anywhere  see  direct 
divine  agency  in  hman  affairs  —  we  must  recognize 
its  presence.  For,  at  the  close  of  his  second  year 
as  Governor  of  New  York,  with  a  splendid  record 
of  duty  done  and  reforms  accomplished,  he  and 
his  immediate  friends  desired  a  certain  thing  for 
him,  and  struggled  for  it  —  and  then  events,  or  an 
overruling  providence,  blocked  the  path  which  he 


A  RELUCTANT  VICE-PRESIDENT          183 

had  chosen  and  set  his  feet  in  a  path  which  he  did 
not  desire,  but  a  path  which  opened  out,  in  the 
unseen  future,  into  a  field  of  national  service 
worthy  of  his  extraordinary  powers.  It  was  a  field 
which  very  likely  would  not  have  opened  to  him 
had  he  not  arrived  at  it  through  the  undesired 
path. 

This  was  the  logic  of  events,  humanly  speaking, 
as  we  now  look  back.  Roosevelt  desired  another 
term  as  Governor.  He  wished  to  continue  his  un 
precedented  fight  for  a  clear,  righteous  administra 
tion  of  the  machinery  of  government  in  his  native 
State.  But  Senator  Platt  did  not  wish  this;  and 
Platt's  official  henchmen  and  the  fat  corporations 
whom  Roosevelt  had  seriously  disturbed  likewise 
longed  for  relief  from  his  keen  scrutiny  and  ir 
resistible  domination.  It  had  been  only  an  armed 
truce  between  Platt  and  Roosevelt  through  the  two 
years  of  the  governorship.  Yet  the  veteran  poli 
tician  secretly  and  within  limits  was  fascinated  by 
the  gallant  young  crusader  who  ever  and  anon  had 
fought  him  to  a  standstill  in  the  State  arena. 
Roosevelt  probably  was  correct  when  he  wrote  to 
Senator  Lodge  at  this  period,  "I  believe  that  Platt 
rather  likes  me,  although  I  render  him  uncomfort 
able  by  some  of  the  things  I  do." 

For  months  Platt  had  been  quietly  planning 
what  he  now,  early  in  1900,  openly  expressed.  He 


184     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

and  his  machine  declared  that  for  the  good  of  the 
State  and  the  nation,  Roosevelt  should  be  put  into 
the  Vice-presidency.  They  planned  to  put  this 
active  reformer  into  the  most  inactive  position  in 
the  Federal  Government;  in  terse,  popular  par 
lance,  they  intended  to  "shelve  him."  Or,  as  one 
facetious  observer  said,  "Platt  wished  to  be  rid  of 
him.  But  he  could  not  'kick  him  downstairs',  so 
he  had  to  'kick  him  upstairs." 

Roosevelt  distrusted  the  Greeks,  even  when  they 
brought  him  gifts.  He  saw  at  once  the  peril  which 
this  move  —  this  plausible  promotion  —  involved  for 
him ;  and  he  struggled  against  it.  He  wrote  letters, 
sent  telegrams,  and  interviewed  powerful  political 
friends.  He  recognized  the  insidious  danger  which 
threatened  his  future  usefulness  more  clearly  than 
did  Secretary  Hay,  who  wrote  thus  humorously 
but  superficially  to  Henry  White,  in  London. 
"Teddy  has  been  here  at  Washington.  Have  you 
heard  of  it?  It  was  more  fun  than  a  goat.  He 
came  here  with  somber  resolution  on  his  strenuous 
brow  to  let  McKinley  and  Hanna  know,  once  for 
all,  that  he  would  not  be  Vice-president.  And  he 
found,  to  his  stupefaction,  that  nobody  in  Wash 
ington,  except  Platt,  had  ever  dreamed  of  such  a 
thing.  He  did  not  even  have  a  chance  to  launch 
his  nolo  episcopari  at  the  Major,  who  said  that  he 
did  not  want  him  on  his  ticket,  and  that  he  would 


A  RELUCTANT  VICE-PRESIDENT         185 

be  far  more  useful  in  New  York.  And  Root  said 
—  with  his  frank  and  murderous  smile --'Of 
course  not  —  you're  not  fit  for  it.'  So  he  went 
back  to  New  York,  quite  eased  in  mind,  but  con 
siderably  bruised  in  his  amour  propre." 

That  free-hand  letter  —  written  quite  in  igno 
rance  and  somewhat  out  of  sympathy  —  was  a 
literary  enunciation  from  the  mind  of  the  author 
of  "Little  Breeches"  rather  than  a  judicial  opinion 
from  the  Honorable  John  Hay,  efficient  Secretary 
of  State.  Roosevelt  had  scented  a  real  danger  afar 
off  and  was  struggling  blindly  to  meet  it.  On  his 
return  to  New  York  he  made  his  wishes  known 
very  plainly  to  Senator  Platt.  He  even  declared 
vehemently  that  if  he  could  not  go  before  the  voters 
of  the  State  as  gubernatorial  candidate,  on  his 
record,  for  another  term,  he  would  rather  retire  to 
private  life.  Platt,  the  wily  fox,  affected  to 
acquiesce  in  this  decision.  But  his  plans  had  been 
laid  and  he  did  not  intend  to  relinquish  them.  He 
had  suffered  too  severely  at  Roosevelt's  hands  to 
allow  that  ardent  young  man  any  open  door,  or 
half-open  door,  for  a  return  into  the  field  of  State 
politics,  now  that  he  was  moving  out  of  it  by  the 
completion  of  his  term  of  service. 

The  Republican  National  Convention,  for  nomi 
nation  of  candidates,  was  now  close  at  hand.  And 
Platt,  somewhat  nervous,  intimated  that  if  Roose- 


186     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

velt  would  not  accept  the  Vice-presidential  nomi 
nation,  he,  Platt,  would  block  him  in  his  campaign 
for  another  term  as  Governor  of  New  York.  That 
was  a  mistaken  move  on  the  senator's  part.  Roose 
velt  took  up  the  threat  and  declared  to  his  astute 
foe  that  if  the  New  York  delegation  were  not  in 
structed  to  vote  for  Woodruff  as  Vice-president, 
he,  Roosevelt,  would  lay  bare  Platt's  threat  before 
the  voters  of  New  York. 

But  —  "the  best  laid  schemes  o*  mice  and  men" 
went  wrong,  as  often  before.  When  the  Conven 
tion  got  "under  weigh",  and  Roosevelt  delivered 
the  nomination  speech  for  McKinley,  the  delegates 
made  their  wishes  known  by  applause,  cheers,  and 
demands  that  "Teddy"  stand  as  candidate  for  the 
Vice-presidency.  Roosevelt  protested,  pled  with 
them,  and  did  all  he  could  to  push  back  the  over 
whelming  wave  of  enthusiasm  which  surged  up 
toward  him.  But  his  efforts  were  only  Parting- 
tonian  in  their  ineffective  results.  Almost  to  a 
man  that  assembly  rose  and  thundered  its  lavish 
admiration  and  its  insistent  demands.  Speeches 
followed  and  the  demands  became  even  more 
inexorable.  One  man  summed  up  the  need.  "We 
want  a  ticket  made  up  of  McKinley  —  a  Western 
man  with  Eastern  sympathies  —  and  Roosevelt  — 
an  Eastern  man  with  Western  sympathies."  One 
of  the  delegates  expressed  the  popular  emotional 


A  RELUCTANT  VICE-PRESIDENT         187 

demand  when  he  declared,  "We  want  a  candidate 
we  can  yell  for."  It  went  unsaid  that  nobody  ex 
pected  to  "yell"  for  McKinley,  even  though  he 
might  vote  for  that  genial  gentleman. 

So  Roosevelt  yielded  and  accepted.  What  else 
could  he  do?  And  he  was  "shelved",  as  he  and 
Platt  thought,  although  not  so  directly  by  Platt's 
agency  as  that  old  plotter  had  anticipated.  But 
"shelved"  he  felt  himself  to  be.  And  he  was  dis 
appointed  and  depressed.  As  he  said  grimly  to  a 
friend,  "I  see  no  attractive  outlook.  I  shall  prob 
ably  end  my  life  as  a  professor  in  some  small 
college."  That  was  the  cloud-shadowed  future  to 
which  this  eager  young  knight-errant  looked.  But, 
like  a  Sybilline  prophecy,  stand  the  words  of  one 
of  my  classmates  on  record  to  this  day,  words 
uttered  by  him  soon  after  the  Philadelphia  Conven 
tion  in  1900,  "I  would  not  like  to  stand  in  Mc- 
Kinley's  shoes.  He  has  a  man  of  destiny  behind 
him." 

Historic  facts  justified  the  implications  of  this 
forecast.  Four  times  in  national  history  had  vice- 
presidents  been  conducted  to  the  presidential  chair 
by  that  grim  usher,  Death.  Tyler,  Fillmore, 
Johnson,  and  Arthur  had  been  thus  advanced,  as 
their  nominating  conventions  had  not  anticipated. 
The  last  two  of  these  changes  had  come  through 


188     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

the  acts  of  assassins.  And  on  this  point  history 
was  to  repeat  itself. 

Roosevelt,  when  once  fairly  embarked  upon  the 
national  campaign,  threw  himself  into  it  with  all 
his  wonted  energy.  He  traveled  through  twenty- 
four  States  and  made  about  seven  hundred 
speeches.  He  wrote  to  a  friend,  "The  National 
Committee  have  worked  me  nearly  to  death."  Yet, 
exhausted  as  he  was,  he  enjoyed  it.  We  are  sure 
of  that.  And  what  a  transformation  had  come  to 
the  timid,  embarrassed  young  man  of  college  days 
— gasping  after  words,  inaudible  in  his  articulation 
—now  standing  before  vast  audiences  and  driving 
home  his  clear  ideas  and  lofty  ideals  with  freedom 
and  force!  His  mental  equipment  had  developed 
through  the  years;  and  his  exceptional  moral  and 
emotional  qualities  needed  no  augmentation.  His 
voice,  however,  remained  throughout  his  life,  as  it 
was  in  his  youth,  comparatively  weak  and  ineffec 
tive.  In  this  campaign  of  1900  he  was  accompanied 
by  Curtis  Guild,  later  honored  Governor  of  the 
Old  Bay  State.  He  of  the  generous  heart  and 
diapason  voice  went  as  an  understudy  for  Roose 
velt,  who  often  quite  wore  his  fragile  voice  to  a 
hoarse  thread  and  was  compelled  to  stop  speaking. 

There  was  power  in  Roosevelt's  manner  as  a 
public  speaker,  to  command  and  hold  attention, 
even  when  his  weak  voice  and  the  great  size  of  the 


A  RELUCTANT  VICE-PRESIDENT         189 

crowd  made  him  inaudible.  A  classmate  has  told 
me  that  he  once  stood  in  a  crowd  in  Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania,  and  saw  Roosevelt  in  the  open  air, 
with  wagons  and  trolley  cars  rattling  and  clanging, 
hold  the  attention  of  fully  five  thousand  people, 
during  an  address  of  an  hour. 

If  they  could  hear  his  words,  any  audience  would 
sit  or  stand  spellbound.  And  even  when  conditions 
prevented  their  hearing  him  clearly,  there  was  such 
fascination  and  suggestion  of  power  in  his  face 
and  gestures  that  people  stayed  and  stayed,  hoping 
to  catch  something  of  the  brilliant  yet  rational  ap 
peals  he  was  making  for  some  upright  man  or  just 
and  humane  cause. 

In  this  tour  through  the  country  with  Curtis 
Guild,  men  and  women  everywhere  were  eager  to 
look  upon  and  listen  to  the  "Rough  Rider"  and 
"Reform  Governor  of  New  York."  His  pictur 
esque  past  and  his  fearless  spirit  were  well  known 
in  every  section  of  the  country.  When  people  first 
heard  him,  they  were  often  disappointed  during 
the  opening  sentences.  But  they  soon  forgot  their 
disappointment  in  their  growing  interest  in  the 
ideas  he  was  urging.  He  had  but  few  of  the 
physical  assets  and  rhetorical  arts  of  the  orators. 
Like  another  great  man,  Phillips  Brooks,  he  broke 
most  of  the  rules  of  elocution;  it  was  his  earnest 
ness  and  sincerity,  his  courage  and  also  his  humor 


190     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

that  drew  his  listeners  to  him.  The  speech  and  not 
the  speaker  was  what  held  his  audience.  Yet  his 
personality  had  its  charm.  It  grew  upon  people 
after  they  had  gone  away  and  recalled  him.  They 
said  to  one  another  that  they  had  never  before 
listened  to  anybody  who  spoke  so  simply,  forcibly, 
and  sincerely  as  he  spoke. 

From  time  to  time  incidents  occurred,  flashes 
of  temperament  leaped  out  through  the  formal 
routine  of  the  schedule  and  program,  which  re 
vealed  the  intrepidity  of  the  Rough  Rider  and  the 
unflinching  defiance  of  "Boss"  Platt's  rival.  One 
of  the  chief  issues  of  the  campaign  was  that  of  a 
silver  or  a  gold  basis  for  the  nation's  monetary 
affairs.  Denver,  Colorado,  was  a  strong  "silver" 
center.  Roosevelt  arrived  there,  went  to  the  hotel, 
then  to  the  hall,  then  to  the  platform,  and  then  was 
introduced.  The  introduction  was  not  a  necessity, 
but  largely  a  formality.  Everybody  knew  him 
from  his  pictures.  He  had  figured  in  cartoons, 
favorable  or  unfavorable,  throughout  the  land. 
The  hall  was  crowded  with  a  curious,  eager  audi 
ence,  which  cheered  him  heartily.  Then  came  his 
first  sentence,  clear,  succinct,  "I  am  for  gold  as 
our  money  basis."  At  once  an  uproar  broke  out  in 
that  audience,  strongly  predisposed  as  it  was  to 
silver.  The  confusion  increased.  The  noise  grew 
in  volume  and  intensity,  —  catcalls,  fists  shaken, 


A  RELUCTANT  VICE-PRESIDENT          191 

threats  shouted  out.  The  attitude  of  the  crowd 
had  altered  completely  in  a  moment. 

Through  it  all  Roosevelt  stood  silent,  motion 
less,  upon  the  platform.  His  characteristic  smile 
irradiated  his  face.  The  opposition  rolled  up 
against  him  like  waves  against  a  rock,  and  like  a 
rock  he  stood  undaunted,  immovable. 

He  waited  until  the  hostile  attack  had  quieted 
down  and  his  not  powerful  voice  could  be  heard. 
Then  he  sent  out  again  his  challenge,  brief,  uncom 
promising,  unafraid,  "I'm  for  gold,  just  the  same." 

It  was  a  splendid  assertion  of  courage  and  con 
viction.  And  that  audience  recoiled  under  it  as 
under  a  swift,  hard  blow.  Then  their  sense  of  fair 
play,  their  recognition  of  his  bravery  prevailed; 
and  their  threats  turned  to  applause,  their  hostility 
to  admiration. 

Thus,  throughout  that  tour  of  campaigning, 
incident  followed  incident,  and  the  days,  although 
exhausting,  were  joyous  days.  For  when  once 
Roosevelt  had  committed  himself  to  the  trip,  his 
inordinate  love  of  action  was  gratified;  and  he 
forgot  for  a  time  his  apprehensions  about  the 
stagnant  eddy  of  the  Vice-presidency  which  he 
was  soon  to  occupy,  while  the  strong  currents  of 
governmental  administration  coursed  swiftly 
around  and  outside  him.  In  that  unique  volume, 
"The  Education  of  Henry  Adams",  the  author 


192     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

wrote,  "Roosevelt,  more  than  any  other  living  man, 
showed  the  singular  primitive  quality  that  belongs 
to  ultimate  matter — the  quality  that  medieval 
theology  assigned  to  God — he  was  pure  act."  And 
the  reluctant  young  candidate  for  the  Vice-presi 
dency  forgot  his  reluctance  in  the  joys  of  the  chase, 
or  the  game,  whichever  you  call  it,  and  although  by 
his  earnest,  persuasive  address  he  might  have  been 
said  to  be  weaving  the  very  bonds  which  were  to 
tie  him  later,  yet  he  wove  joyously — as  it  was  his 
nature  to — he  being,  as  Henry  Adams  declared, 
"pure  act." 

In  every  audience,  throughout  the  tour,  were  to 
be  found  scores  of  persons  who  had  read  about  his 
great  public  service,  or  had  read  his  books,  or — as 
happened  many  times  —  had  served  under  him  in 
the  Rough  Riders.  In  one  city  a  bucolic-looking 
man,  with  long,  straggling  beard,  and  trousers  in 
boot-tops,  came  up  after  the  meeting  and  took 
Roosevelt's  small  hand  in  his  big  bony  fist.  "I'm 
a-goin'  to  vote  fer  yer",  he  announced,  with  a  genial 
smile,  "not  only  because  I  like  yer  and  what  yer 
said,  but,  yer  see,  I've  got  a  boy  out  on  the  farm 
an'  he's  read  everything  you've  written.  An'  he 
sets  gre't  store  by  yer;  an'  I  wouldn't  jest  dass  to 
face  him  if  I  didn't  vote  fer  yer." 

Always  it  was  true  that  the  nearer  people  came 
to  Roosevelt,  or  had  come  to  him,  the  more  they 


A  RELUCTANT  VICE-PRESIDENT          193 

admired  him.  At  one  large  town  a  timid,  worn, 
little  gray-haired  woman  crept  up  at  the  end  of 
the  meeting  and  stood  near,  looking  wistfully  at 
him,  but  not  daring  to  speak  to  him.  Of  course, 
seeing  her,  he  went  to  her  and  put  out  his  hand. 
She  took  it  and  then  piped  up,  in  a  quavering  voice, 
"I  used  to  see  you  in  New  York,  Mr.  Roosevelt. 

In  the  L H  -   —  offices.    I  was  scrubwoman 

there  when  you  were  Police  Commissioner." 
Roosevelt  pondered  a  moment;  then  he  recalled 
her.  "Oh,  yes,  I  remember,  Mrs.  B-  — .  I'm 
so  glad  to  see  you.  And  how  is  little  Jack?"  The 
proud  woman  replied,  "Oh,  he's  fine.  He's  grown 
up  now,  gets  good  pay,  and  supports  his  old 
mother."  Then  Roosevelt  turned  to  a  friend  at 
his  side  and  exclaimed,  "Look  at  her,  the  noble 
little  mother!  I  remember  her  well,  and  the  faith 
ful  work  and  her  well-brought-up  boy.  That's 
the  kind  of  stuff  our  American  fabric  is  woven 
from." 

This  tour  through  more  than  twenty  States 
augmented  the  public  favor  which  Roosevelt  al 
ready  possessed  in  a  large  measure.  And  he  was 
not  unconscious  of  this.  Perhaps  a  word  may  here 
be  interpolated  as  to  that  ambition  which  was 
charged  against  him,  at  various  points  in  his  career, 
by  rivals  and  enemies.  Was  he  ambitious?  How 
ambitious  was  he? 


194     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

Several  writers,  students  and  critics  of  this  great 
American,  have  declared  that  he  was  extremely 
ambitious.  Others  have  declared  that  he  was  not. 
The  real  truth  about  him  seems  to  lie  between  the 
two  extreme  statements.  In  his  college  days,  after 
his  plans  for  studying  Natural  History  had  been 
balked,  and  after  he  had  found  Blackstone  and 
Company  dry  and  distasteful,  he  tried  what  we 
call  vulgarly  " Politics."  And  he  went  into  that 
field  with  his  heart  as  wholly  and  disinterestedly 
devoted  to  correcting  abuses  as  it  was  in  those 
earlier  undergraduate  days  when  he  talked  with 
friends  about  reforms  in  public  service.  Then, 
when  he  accomplished  so  much,  almost  unaided,  at 
Albany,  he  felt  his  power.  Next,  he  tempered  and 
modified  and  pooled  that  power  as  he  fought  the 
hard  fight  in  the  Civil  Service  field.  Then  came 
advancement,  step  by  step,  with  the  people  backing 
him.  And  possibilities  of  higher  and  higher  pub 
lic  honor  —  and  enhanced  public  responsibility  - 
brightened  the  horizon  before  him.  His  untarnished 
record  and  his  inexhaustible  energy  were  evident 
to  others.  Recall  that  prophecy  of  Baron  Speck 
von  Sternberg,  German  attache  at  Washington. 
Roosevelt  and  the  Baron  were  good  friends.  When 
Roosevelt  was  appointed  Police  Commissioner  of 
New  York,  the  Baron  wrote  him,  "I  congratulate 
you  on  this  appointment.  When  I  write  you 


A  RELUCTANT  VICE-PRESIDENT         195 

again,  to  congratulate  you,  you  will  be  one  step 
nearer  the  White  House."  When  Roosevelt 
became  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Stern- 
berg  wrote  him  from  Pekin,  "I  congratulate 
you  on  being  one  step  nearer  the  Presidency." 
When  Roosevelt  became  Governor  of  New  York, 
the  Baron  telegraphed  him,  "The  next  time  I  offer 
congratulations,  it  will  be  to  President  Roosevelt." 

I  cite  that  story,  taken  from  William  Draper 
Lewis's  very  readable  volume,  for  what  it  is  worth. 
It  argues  at  least  this  much;  Roosevelt's  friends 
anticipated  a  career  of  eminence  for  him.  And  he 
himself  certainly  could  not  be  blind  to  this  nor 
dull  to  the  thrill  of  a  normal  desire  to  attain  all, 
in  the  loyal  service  of  his  beloved  country,  which 
he  was  worthy  to  attain. 

All  normally  constituted  human  beings  have 
ambition  in  a  greater  or  less  degree.  Ambition 
is  simply  one  expression  of  the  compelling  evolu 
tionary  process  which  has  pushed  the  human  race 
up  above  the  cave-man  level.  It  is  essentially 
meritorious.  The  only  debatable  issue  regarding 
it,  is  what  and  how  much  will  an  ambitious  man 
sacrifice  for  his  ambition.  He  can  creditably 
sacrifice  time,  effort,  wealth,  and  the  like  to  it. 
But  if  he  sacrifices  morality,  friendship,  honor  and 
the  like,  then  and  then  only  is  it  reprehensible. 


196     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

And  all  the  world  knows  how  Theodore  Roosevelt 
stood,  in  respect  to  those  two  paths. 

I  sat  one  day  with  Doctor  Edward  Everett  Hale 
in  his  study  in  Boston.  I  had  come  to  return  some 
autograph  letters  of  Doctor  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes,  loaned  me  by  Doctor  Hale.  Believing 
then,  as  now,  in  the  greatness  of  my  host  and  friend, 
I  put  the  leading  question,  "Doctor  Holmes  was,  of 
course,  a  great  man,  was  he  not,  judged  by  even 
the  broadest  and  longest  world-standards?"  Doc 
tor  Hale  replied  casually  to  this  banal  inquiry  with 
a  "Yes,  oh,  yes,  he  was."  Then  I  asked,  "And  he 
knew  he  was  a  great  man,  didn't  he?"  Doctor 
Hale  bit  at  once  at  my  bait,  whirled  impulsively 
around  and  ejaculated  vigorously,  "Of  course  he 
knew  he  was  a  great  man.  Holmes  wasn't  a  fool,  I 
can  tell  you  that."  My  question  about  both  those 
eminent  men  was  thus  answered.  And  concerning 
Theodore  Roosevelt's  ambition  I  have  only  this  to 
say,  —  that  he  was  not  a  fool ;  he  knew  himself  and 
his  unfolding  power;  and  he  was  ready  to  accept 
any  duty  which  the  American  people  desired  to 
confer  upon  him,  but  anxious  also  was  he  —  as, 
doubtless,  ambitious  Caesar  was  not  —  tremendously 
anxious  to  fulfill  his  duties,  great  and  small,  with 
earnest,  conscientious,  patriotic  industry  and  zeal; 
"as  in  the  Great  Taskmaster's  eye",  said  Milton. 

The  two  friends  and  fellow  campaigners,  Roose- 


A  RELUCTANT  VICE-PRESIDENT         197 

velt  and  Guild,  rounded  out  their  circuit  of  meet 
ings  in  due  time  and  with  great  success.  When 
they  returned  to  the  Republican  Headquarters  at 
Washington,  appreciative  President  McKinley 
invited  them  to  dinner;  and  in  the  course  of  the 
interview,  he  thanked  Roosevelt  —  who  had  been 
the  chief  speaker  —  for  his  excellent  work  and  its 
probable  results.  To  which  Roosevelt  replied  in  his 
characteristic,  generous  way,  "You  can  thank 
Curtis  Guild,  also,  Mr.  President,  for  he  worked 
shoulder  to  shoulder  with  me,  and  he  deserves 
exactly  as  much  credit  as  I  do." 

In  the  election  which  came  in  November,  1900, 
the  Republicans  swept  the  whole  country.  And 
Theodore  Roosevelt  was  slated  for  a  full  term  as 
Vice-president,  beginning  with  March  4, 1901. 

Certainly,  at  this  point  in  Roosevelt's  career, 
James  Bryce's  observation  did  not  seem  likely  to 
see  fulfillment.  Mr.  Bryce  had  said  in  1899, 
"Theodore  Roosevelt  is  the  hope  of  American 
Politics."  And  the  year  1900  saw  Roosevelt  con 
signed  to  that  cul-de-sac  in  American  officialdom, 
the  Vice-presidency. 

His  term  as  Governor  of  New  York  ended  on 
January  1,  1901.  Soon  after  that  date  he  went 
on  a  hunting  trip  in  Colorado.  And  there,  I  have 
no  doubt,  between  perils  and  among  hardships,  he 


198    ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

looked  forward,  with  more  reluctance  than  ever, 
to  the  dull  four  years  impending. 

One  of  Roosevelt's  athletic  trainers  said  of  him 
in  later  years,  surveying  his  public  career,  "He's 
just  like  a  punching-bag.  You  hit  it  and  it  comes 
straight  back  at  you.  The  harder  you  hit  it,  the 
quicker  it  comes  back."  And  here  we  note  another 
illustration  of  the  resilient  "come  back"  there  was 
in  him,  either  against  a  foe  or  against  an  unfavor 
able  environment.  Soon  after  he  took  up  his  Vice- 
presidential  duties,  he  called  upon  Mr.  Justice, 
later  Chief  Justice  White  and  asked  his  advice 
about  the  propriety  of  his  attending  law  lectures  in 
Washington,  with  a  view  to  being  admitted  to  the 
bar  after  his  term  as  Vice-president  had  ended. 

Chief  Justice  White  had  a  delightful  sense  of 
humor,  as  keen  as  Roosevelt's;  and  I  know  that 
he  must  have  smiled  —  at  least  inwardly  —  when 
Roosevelt,  earnest,  unconventional,  and  threatened 
with  boredom,  asked  his  advice  on  this  point.  But 
the  Chief  Justice  reciprocated,  in  spirit  if  not  in 
letter;  and  generously  offered  to  supply  Roosevelt 
with  books  and  to  give  him  a  "quiz"  every  Saturday 
evening. 

However,  the  plan  did  not  mature.  The  tragedy 
element  which  looms  behind  all  our  lives  here  broke 
through,  in  the  lives  of  President  McKinley,  Vice- 
president  Roosevelt,  and  indeed  the  life  of  the 


A  RELUCTANT  VICE-PRESIDENT          199 

nation  as  well.  The  bullet  of  the  assassin  Czolgosz 
changed  all,  even  altered  the  course  of  the  world's 
history. 

I  once  sat  in  an  audience  at  a  theater  where  two 
plays  made  up  the  evening's  program.  The  cur 
tain  rang  down  at  the  end  of  the  first  play.  And 
we  sat  awaiting  the  announced  second  play.  But 
unusual  noise  and  clatter  behind  the  scenes  puzzled 
us.  After  unexpected  minutes  of  delay  the  curtain 
rose,  and  we  saw  the  stage  set  for  an  entirely  dif 
ferent  play  from  the  one  announced.  Later  we 
learned  that  the  illness  of  one  of  the  principal 
actors  had  necessitated  the  change  and  the  scenes 
had  been  shifted  in  haste  and  excitement.  As  I 
look  back  upon  that  brief  period  between  Sep 
tember  sixth  and  September  fourteenth,  1901,  the 
fancy  strikes  me  that  a  similar  emergency  and  a 
similar  transformation,  though  vaster  in  signifi 
cance,  took  place.  The  Vice-president  was  sum 
moned  from  Isle  La  Motte,  Vermont,  where  he 
had  just  made  an  address.  He  sped  to  Buffalo, 
where  his  stricken  chief  lay  helpless.  The  nation, 
by  bulletins,  followed  the  thrilling  events.  The 
physicians,  two  days  later,  gave  most  encouraging 
reports.  Roosevelt  went  to  Mt.  Marcy,  in  the 
Adirondacks.  Favorable  reports  from  Buffalo 
came  to  him  daily.  Then,  on  the  thirteenth,  came 
the  unexpected  message  from  Secretary  Cortelyou, 


200     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

"The  President's  condition  has  changed  for  the 
worse."  Roosevelt  was  thirty-five  miles  from  the 
nearest  railroad  station.  But  he  secured  a  buck- 
board  and,  with  a  driver  as  daring  as  himself, 
traveled  through  the  darkness  of  night,  with  fog 
enveloping,  over  rough  roads,  dangerous  even  in 
full  daylight,  traveled  with  speed,  changed  horses 
several  times,  and  reached  the  railroad  at  dawn. 
There  he  learned  from  his  own  secretary,  Mr. 
Loeb,  that  the  worst  had  come.  President  Mc- 
Kinley  had  died.  Then  by  train  he  sped  across  the 
State  to  Buffalo.  And  with  but  little  delay,  by 
the  expressed  desire  of  the  Cabinet,  he  took  the 
oath  of  office  as  President. 

Thus  the  scenes  were  shifted.  Thus  the  stage  of 
the  great  drama  was  reset  in  a  fashion  not 
dreamed  of. 

The  "Power  not  ourselves"  was  "making  for 
righteousness",  but  in  an  unexpected  way.  The 
various  prophecies,  dimly  outlined  by  admiring 
friends,  came  to  pass.  Theodore  Roosevelt  was 
now  President  of  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  PRESIDENTIAL   PLATEAU FIRST   HALF 

"The  President  is  dead  —  may  the  President 
live!"  That  is  the  American  democratic  transla 
tion  of  the  familiar  Gallic  slogan.  Genial,  wise, 
well-intentioned  President  William  McKinley  was 
dead,  but  the  high  office  continued  in  the  person  of 
Theodore  Roosevelt. 

The  office  of  President  of  the  United  States  is, 
presumably,  the  highest  honor  which  this  nation 
offers.  I  figure  it  as  a  plateau.  The  distance 
across  it  is  the  period  of  four  years.  Sometimes 
the  plateau  is  a  double  formation,  with  eight  years 
the  distance;  then  halfway  across  it  stands  an  inn, 
for  a  brief  night  and  a  relay  of  horses;  then  on 
through  the  remaining  four  years. 

To  reach  the  various  heights  in  the  world,  Alpine 
and  others,  some  men  toil  up  long,  steep,  rocky 
pathways;  others  climb  comfortably  up  an  easy 
grade  in  cogged-wheel  cars,  and  still  others  seem 
to  be  shot  suddenly,  rapidly  upward,  to  the  aston 
ishment  of  everybody,  including  themselves. 

Abraham  Lincoln  and  many  others   ascended 


202    ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

by  the  first  and  most  toilsome  route.  General 
Ulysses  S.  Grant,  a  military  hero,  a  "man  on  horse 
back",  was  carried  up  rapidly,  yet  comfortably, 
by  the  funicular  of  popular  enthusiasm.  While 
Chester  Arthur  and  Theodore  Roosevelt  were 
hurled  to  the  plateau's  summit  unexpectedly, 
violently,  as  volleyed  there  by  an  explosion. 

All  the  wiseacres  who,  for  ten  years  and  more, 
had  been  pointing  out  defects  in  Roosevelt's  na 
ture,  now  awaited  eagerly  the  full,  dark  revelation 
of  rashness  and  inefficiency  at  which  they  had  been 
craftily  hinting.  And  the  first  shock  to  their  vanity 
came  when  the  new  incumbent  of  the  White  House, 
with  a  wisdom  worthy  of  his  great  forerunner, 
model,  and  ideal,  Abraham  Lincoln,  at  once  sent 
forth  this  message  to  an  anxious  nation: 

"In  this  hour  of  deep  national  grief,  I  wish  to 
state  that  it  is  my  aim  to  continue,  absolutely  un 
broken,  the  policy  of  William  McKinley,  for  the 
peace,  prosperity,  and  honor  of  our  beloved  coun- 
try." 

The  owlish  wiseacres  and  acrid  prophets  of 
gloom  were  aghast;  and  even  stanch  admiring 
friends  admired  the  more  the  self-restraint,  the 
sagacity  of  this  brilliant  young  statesman,  here 
evincing,  as  always,  his  singular  blending  of  diverse 
qualities,  his  intellectual  grasp  so  broad  that  he 
held  at  unity  in  his  breast  forces,  tendencies,  which 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLATEAU  203 

commonly  are  mutually  antagonistic  and  inhibitive. 

Roosevelt  had  learned  much  in  his  post-col 
legiate  course  in  worldly  wisdom,  but  much  re 
mained  to  be  learned.  He  knew  his  Albany  and 
his  New  York,  but  he  did  not  know  the  "Solid 
South."  Although  his  mother  was  a  Georgia 
woman,  and  two  of  his  uncles  had  been  active  in 
the  Confederate  Cause,  he  had  not  realized  how 
deeply  the  roots  of  racial  antipathy  extended  into 
the  soil  of  the  Southland.  Now  he  was  to  learn 
it,  and  by  harsh  experience.  The  incident  which 
illustrates  this  educative  experience  of  his  is  not 
given  in  his  Autobiography. 

He  continued  the  plan  in  the  White  House 
which  he  had  followed  effectively  in  his  previous 
official  duties.  He  consulted  experts.  He  has  told 
us  that  he  consulted  Senator  Lodge,  his  valued 
friend,  on  all  kinds  of  questions.  On  questions 
concerning  Panama,  Algeciras,  Alaska,  labor  leg 
islation,  "big  business",  railway  matters,  —  on  each 
of  these  and  many  others  he  was  accustomed  to 
confer  with  special,  competent  men.  Naturally 
then,  as  the  Negro  Problem,  sectional  yet  national, 
thrust  itself  upon  his  attention,  he  wished  to  confer 
with  some  man  of  experience  in  this  field.  And 
Booker  T.  Washington,  a  negro,  Principal  of  the 
Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute,  was 
unquestionably  the  leader  of  his  race,  a  man  keen 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

in  mind,  rich  in  experience,  and  with  wide  and  deep 
influence  throughout  both  white  and  black  races, 
North  and  South. 

Knowing  Theodore  Roosevelt  as  we  now  do,  we 
can  see  that  he  was  certain  in  1901,  with  his  strong 
sense  of  justice,  to  become  a  champion  of  equal 
rights  in  the  South.  But  he  needed  to  know  more 
fully  the  situation.  And  he  invited  Booker  T. 
Washington  to  dine  with  him  at  the  White  House. 
Doctor  Washington,  more  sensitive  than  President 
Roosevelt  to  the  inflamed  feelings  of  Southern  men 
and  women,  wrote  him  a  letter  and  pointed  out  the 
danger  of  arousing  bitter  animosity  by  such  an  in 
terview.  Roosevelt,  in  his  large,  generous  way, 
was  disregardful  of  such  minor  forces  and  insisted 
upon  the  dinner. 

The  invitation  was  accepted,  the  two  dined  to 
gether;  discreet  Francis  Leupp  tried  to  keep  the 
dinner  a  secret,  but  newspaper  reporters  ferreted 
it  out,  and  the  Southern  Press  blazed  forth  in  fierce 
denunciation.  The  President  had  recently  ap 
pointed  two  Southern  democrats  to  important 
offices,  thus  giving  evidence  of  an  impartial  attitude 
toward  the  South  and  the  Southern  Democracy. 
But  this  "insult  to  the  white  race"  made  everybody 
south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line  forget  all 
equitable  office  appointments.  They  seemed  to  be 
quite  unaware  that  English  Victoria — that  queenly 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLATEAU  205 

woman  and  womanly  queen  —  a  year  before  had 
invited  Doctor  Washington  and  his  wife  to  tea  at 
Windsor  Castle.  Probably,  if  they  remembered  it, 
it  caused  no  lessening  of  their  rancor. 

The  excitement  died  down  and  quite  rapidly. 
Only  two  years  later,  in  October,  1903,  Roosevelt 
received  at  the  White  House  a  deputation  of 
Episcopal  bishops  and  clergymen  of  eminence; 
among  them  were  two  colored  clergymen.  All 
these,  white  and  black,  were  received  and  enter 
tained  by  President  and  Mrs.  Roosevelt,  with  no 
distinction  of  persons.  The  usual  afternoon  tea 
concomitants  were  shared  by  all.  And  no  news 
paper  raised  a  protest.  The  world  had  moved  on 
apace.  A  fickle,  feverish  world  to  be  sure,  in  some 
ways  inconsistent  and  factitious  in  its  loves  and 
hates,  but  it  had  moved,  and  forward. 

There  was  an  amusing  "Addendum"  to  the 
Booker  Washington  incident  which  is  not  com 
monly  known.  It  has  been  given  me  by  my  friend, 
Matthew  Hale,  who  at  that  date  was  a  member  of 
the  family,  acting  as  tutor  for  Theodore,  Junior, 
fitting  him  for  college.  I  quote  Mr.  Hale's  own 
words : 

"Soon  after  the  Booker  Washington  affair, 
early  one  morning,  John  Morley  arrived  from 
England  to  visit  the  Roosevelt  family,  and  was 
brought  into  the  dining  room  just  as  all  were  sitting 


206    ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

down  at  table.  The  negro  butler  was  standing 
immediately  behind  Mr.  Roosevelt,  Mrs.  Roosevelt 
was  seated  opposite,  and  the  children  were  scat 
tered  around  the  table.  I  was  at  the  end  of  the 
table  opposite  the  door  through  which  Mr.  Morley 
entered.  The  President  introduced  him  to  Mrs. 
Roosevelt  and  to  the  children,  and  then  said,  'I 
want  you  to  meet  Matt  Hale.'  Morley,  who 
seemed  at  the  moment  a  trifle  confused,  did  not 
notice  me  among  the  children  at  the  farther  end  of 
the  table,  but  did  see  the  negro  butler  and  started 
to  shake  hands  with  him,  much  to  the  confusion 
and  embarrassment  of  the  President.  It  is  the 
only  time  I  have  ever  been  mistaken  for  a  negro 
butler." 

The  lesson  of  his  unwise  invitation  to  Booker 
Washington  sank  deeply  into  Roosevelt's  heart. 
It  did  not  alter  in  any  degree  his  keen  sympathy 
with  negroes,  but  it  made  him  more  cautious  and 
discreet  in  his  support  of  them. 

This  change  in  his  attitude  is  shown  by  his  treat 
ment  of  a  post  office  at  Indianola,  Mississippi,  in 
1902.  A  colored  woman  was  postmistress,  and 
was  efficient.  A  wave  of  race  hatred  sprang  up  in 
that  region,  and  a  mob  of  white  men  drove  the 
postmistress  from  the  town.  This  was  technically 
a  defiance  of  Federal  authority  and  might  have 
been  punished  severely.  Roosevelt  did  nothing  of 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLATEAU  207 

this  sort.  As  in  many  other  difficult  situations,  he 
showed  originality  and  resourcefulness,  and  he 
simply  closed  the  post  office,  thus  compelling  the 
citizens  of  Indianola  to  travel  five  miles  for  their 
mail. 

This  episode  of  Booker  Washington's  dining  at 
the  White  House,  although  picturesque,  was  not 
so  vital  and  immediately  fruitful  as  were  many 
other  details  of  my  classmate's  career,  yet  to  be 
cited.  Still,  it  came  to  him  with  a  shock,  at  the 
very  threshold  of  his  Presidential  term.  And  it 
appeals  to  me  peculiarly,  because  I  knew  Booker 
T.  Washington  intimately  during  thirty  years.  I 
rendered  him  and  his  people  some  little  measure 
of  service,  including  aid  in  three  ten-day  tours 
through  the  South,  when  I  acted  as  unpaid  pub 
licity  agent  for  Northern  newspapers.  I  know, 
therefore,  somewhat  about  the  difficulties  on  both 
sides  of  the  troublous,  complex  "Negro  Problem." 
And  I  wish  to  point  out,  apropos  of  the  "dinner 
episode",  that  my  classmate,  roused  to  the  exigen 
cies  of  the  problem  —  then  new  to  him  —  went  at 
once  to  the  heart  of  the  matter.  For,  in  a  letter 
written  in  November,  1901,  he  included  this  state 
ment: 

"The  only  wise,  honorable  and  Christian  thing 
to  do  is  to  treat  each  white  man  and  each  black  man 
strictly  on  his  merits  as  a  man,  giving  him  no  more 


208     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

and  no  less  than  he  shows  himself  worthy  to  have." 
That  is  a  deep,  illuminating  statement.  It  is 
adequate  and  fundamental.  It  holds  as  true 
to-day  as  when  Roosevelt  wrote  it.  And  it  is 
gradually  taking  precedence,  North  and  South,  of 
those  vacuous,  sterile  generalizations  about  "the 
Black  Race"  and  "the  White  Race",  which  seem 
ultimate  and  definitive  to  shallow  minds,  yet  take 
us  nowhere  and  shed  no  light  on  a  difficult  national 
problem,  yearly  growing  more  exacting  and  in 
volved. 

From  my  intimacy  with  Doctor  Washington,  I 
know  how  close  and  sympathetic  was  my  class 
mate's  relation  to  that  great  leader  throughout 
both  their  lives.  When  Roosevelt  took  the  Presi 
dency  —  and  perhaps  at  that  ill-fated  dinner  in  the 
White  House  —  he  said  to  Doctor  Washington : 
"Whatever  I  can  do  to  help  your  people  on  their 
upward  path,  that  I  will  do.  Feel  entirely  free 
to  consult  me  at  any  time."  And  they  did  confer 
together,  I  know.  Once,  as  I  sat  at  table  with 
Doctor  Washington  in  his  pleasant  home  at  Tuske- 
gee,  I  remarked,  "As  I  came  down  on  the  train 
from  the  North,  I  read  a  report  of  a  speech  of 
Roosevelt's  at  the  Union  League  Club,  in  New 
York  City.  I  wish  I  had  brought  along  a  copy 
of  the  paper.  You  would  have  been  interested  in 
his  speech.  He  touched  upon  the  'Negro  Prob- 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLATEAU  209 

lem',  and,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  wisely,  sympathet 
ically." 

Doctor  Washington  looked  at  me  with  a  smile, 
then  replied  in  his  quiet  way,  "I  went  over  that 
speech — the  part  touching  the  interests  of  my  peo 
ple  —  with  the  President  in  New  York  last  week." 
Evidently  Roosevelt  had  consulted  "original 
sources"  before  putting  forth  his  views. 

This  problem  of  the  negro  race  in  the  United 
States  was  comparatively  new  to  the  busy  occupant 
of  the  White  House,  but  he  had  quickly  reached 
the  just  and  sympathetic  position,  and  his  action 
ever  afterward  was  taken  from  this  viewpoint. 

The  problems  of  "Labor  and  Capital",  com 
monly  and  obscurely  so  called,  were  not  new  to 
him.  He  had  faced  them  in  the  Assembly  Hall 
at  Albany  and  many  times  afterward.  He  was 
too  keen  a  thinker  to  be  satisfied  with  the  old 
academic  adage  that  "The  interests  of  labor  and 
capital  were  identical."  They  are  not.  They  have 
the  one  end  and  aim  in  common  which  the  employ 
ers  and  employed  of  a  factory  have,  that  they  shall 
continue  operating  and  making  money.  But  they 
diverge  at  once  when  the  question  arises  as  to  how 
the  profits  shall  be  distributed  among  shareholders, 
managers,  running  expenses,  and  hand  workers. 
Labor  and  capital  both  desire  profits  in  any  given 
enterprise.  But  they  differ  and  are  ceaselessly  con- 


210    ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

tending  with  each  other  as  to  the  equable  division 
of  these  profits. 

This  rivalry  is  back  of  strikes  and  revisions  and 
arbitration  conferences.  And  for  many  years 
labor  and  capital,  watching  Roosevelt's  rulings, 
could  not  satisfy  themselves  as  to  how  his  sympa 
thies  ran.  In  truth  he  allowed  no  sympathies  and 
predilections  to  govern  his  decisions.  He  fought 
down  the  impulsive  nature  with  which  he  was  born, 
and  he  learned  to  maintain  a  wonderful  impartial 
ity  in  the  face  of  insistent  divergent  appeals.  The 
story  is  told  of  a  labor  leader  who  had  been  invited 
to  dine  at  the  White  House.  Seated  at  the  table 
he  remarked  expansively,  "I'm  glad  that  the  doors 
of  the  White  House  can  swing  open  to  a  labor 
union  man."  Instantly  Roosevelt  made  reply, 
"Yes,  but  they  can  swing  open  just  as  easily  to 
the  capitalist." 

Thus  he  maintained  his  intellectual  and  moral 
poise.  His  one  aim  in  all  cases,  was  —  putting  it  in 
trite,  homely  phrase  —  to  do  what  was  right.  And 
his  elemental  sincerity  and  honesty  puzzled  the 
worldlings  of  the  legislatures  and  the  counting- 
houses  for  many  years. 

His  official  duties  ranged  from  high  to  low  and 
from  great  to  small.  One  of  the  most  serious 
questions  which  arose  during  his  seven  and  a  half 
years  in  the  Presidency  was  that  of  the  Pennsyl- 


COPYRIGHT    1908,    BY  I 

ROOSEVELT   IX    THE  WHITE    HOUSE. 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLATEAU 

vania  coal  strike.  In  a  letter  to  Senator  Lodge, 
after  the  strike  had  been  settled,  he  wrote,  "We 
are  coming  out  of  a  situation  as  dangerous  as  any 
I  ever  dealt  with." 

I  had  the  great  pleasure  of  hearing  him  describe 
in  detail  this  complicated  experience,  at  one  of  our 
class  dinners,  only  a  few  months  after  it  happened. 
After  the  dinner  was  over,  in  place  of  the  usual 
short  speeches,  Roosevelt  was  given  the  entire  time 
and  was  asked  to  tell  us  whatever  was  on  his  mind 
and  nearest  the  top  in  his  memory,  or  what  would 
be  good  for  us  to  hear.  So,  after  a  few  general 
remarks,  he  started  upon  the  Pennsylvania  coal 
strike.  And  his  earnest,  unreserved  words  made  a 
deep  impression  upon  us  all. 

First  remarking  that  of  course  all  that  he  said 
was  to  be  regarded  as  confidential,  he  went  rapidly 
through  that  eventful  story,  telling  it  with  vivacity 
and  even  gaiety,  his  humorous  vein  coming  to  the 
surface  again  and  again. 

The  miners  struck,  throughout  all  the  anthracite 
tracts  of  the  State,  early  in  the  spring  of  1902. 
The  usual  strained  relations  between  miners  and 
owners  or  operators  ensued.  Little  violence  oc 
curred  while  the  warm  weather  lasted.  But,  as 
winter  came  on,  alarm  increased  throughout  the 
entire  Atlantic  seaboard.  The  need  of  coal  was 
pressing,  and  still  operators  and  miners  would 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

make  no  concessions  to  each  other.  The  Mayor 
of  Boston,  the  Governor  of  New  York,  and  other 
leaders  wrote  to  Roosevelt,  setting  forth  the  disas 
ter  that  impended,  with  this  deadlock  maintained 
in  the  great  coal  State. 

Nothing  in  the  Constitution  provided  for  the 
duty  of  the  President  in  such  an  emergency.  But 
Roosevelt  took  the  position  that  if  the  governor 
or  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania  appealed  to 
him,  he  could  send  Federal  troops  into  the  State, 
to  keep  order.  But  no  such  request  came,  the 
deadlock  did  not  loosen,  and  lawlessness  and  vio 
lence  increased.  A  commission,  a  board  of  arbi 
tration,  seemed  to  be  the  only  possible  hope,  and 
the  President  urged  that.  John  Mitchell,  labor 
leader,  agreed  to  it,  but  stipulated  that  the  Presi 
dent  should  name  the  members  of  that  board,  —  a 
marked  tribute  to  the  high  esteem  in  which  Roose 
velt  was  held  by  the  miners. 

The  two  points  in  my  classmate's  graphic  nar 
rative  which  most  impressed  me  were  his  angry 
protest  against  the  unyielding  arrogance  of  the 
operators  as  negotiations  for  the  conference  went 
on,  and  his  naive  joy  at  his  discovery  of  the  solu 
tion  of  the  problem.  The  delegation  from  the 
owners,  or  operators,  were  insolent,  no  less,  and 
offensive  in  their  attitude  to  both  labor  leaders  and 
the  President.  For  a  time  no  agreement  was 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLATEAU 

reached.  Several  meetings  were  held,  but  no  ad 
vance  was  made.  At  length,  however,  the  opera 
tors,  rejecting  all  suggestions  from  the  miners, 
suggested  that  the  President  name  a  commission 
of  five  men.  And  they  specified  the  qualifications 
of  those  men.  They  would  listen  to  no  suggestion 
of  Roosevelt's  that  ex-President  Grover  Cleveland 
should  serve  on  that  commission.  They  demanded 
that  the  board  should  be  made  up  of  "One  officer 
of  the  Engineer  Corps  of  the  Army  or  Navy,  one 
man  of  experience  in  mining,  one  man  of  promi 
nence  in  sociology,  one  Federal  judge,  and  one 
mining  engineer." 

This  was  holding  a  very  tight  rein  over  the  labor 
unions,  who  insisted  that  some  distinctly  "labor 
man"  should  be  on  that  board.  There  the  matter 
hung.  For  a  short  time  only.  Then,  suddenly  it 
dawned  upon  Roosevelt's  mind  that  those  obstinate 
operators  were  holding  back  from  a  mere  word. 
He  saw  that  they  did  not  much  mind  whom  he 
named  provided  only  that  the  man  was  not  tech 
nically  a  "labor  man."  I  recall  the  characteristic 
smile  on  my  classmate's  face  as  he  reached  this 
point.  "I  suddenly  discovered,"  said  he,  "that  they 
would  accept  any  man  I  might  name  if  he  could 
be  squeezed  in  under  one  or  another  of  the  classes 
they  had  specified.  Without  further  delay  I 
named  the  man  whom  I  had  all  along  held  in  mind, 


214    ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

a  first-class  man,  Mr.  E.  E.  Clark.  He  was  the 
'Head  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Railway  Conductors.' 
But  I  called  him  'an  eminent  sociologist'  —  a  term 
which  probably  was  quite  new  to  him." 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the  porten 
tous  Anthracite  Coal  Strike  in  1902.  Adjustments 
were  made  and  a  disastrous  coal  famine  was 
averted. 

I  am  convinced  that  in  the  strenuous  career  of 
Roosevelt,  as  in  that  of  Lincoln,  his  exceptional 
humor-sense  was  a  great  corrective  and  alleviation 
of  disappointments  and  anxieties.  I  myself  had 
listened  to  his  witty  setting  forth  of  the  details  of 
the  coal  strike,  so  serious  in  their  present  reality, 
yet  so  amusing  in  their  recalling.  A  letter  to  "Mr. 
Dooley"  a  few  days  after  the  strike's  settlement 
exhibited  the  fully  play  of  his  humor.  Friends 
have  told  me  that  when  "Mr.  Dooley"  began  to 
"write  up"  Roosevelt,  the  President  was  somewhat 
concerned  about  that  witty  journalistic  pen.  And 
he  managed  to  get  into  close  friendly  touch  with 
Mr.  Dunne  and  afterward  took  chances  as  to  what 
humorous  thrusts  might  be  made  by  him.  In  the 
letter  to  Mr.  Dunne  at  this  time,  Roosevelt  wrote, 
"I  have  not  had  the  heart  to  write  you  until  this 
coal  strike  was  out  of  the  way.  Now  I  feel  like 
throwing  up  my  hands  and  going  to  the  circus. 
Perhaps  I'll  try  a  turkey  shoot  or  a  bear  hunt  in- 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLATEAU  215 

stead.  Nothing  that  you  have  ever  written  can 
surpass,  in  screaming  comedy,  the  last  few  confer 
ences  of  that  Commission." 

There  is  really  a  further  chapter  in  that  coal- 
strike  drama,  unwritten  and  merely  potential.  As 
I  listened  to  Roosevelt,  at  that  class  reunion,  noting 
his  indomitable  spirit,  I  asked,  myself  what  he 
would  have  done  had  his  intercessory  offices  failed. 
I  knew  that  he  was  not  a  man  to  sit  idle,  bound 
by  the  red  tape  of  rule  and  precedent,  if  worst  came 
to  worst  in  disorderly,  anarchic  Pennsylvania. 
And  he  has  told  us  what  more  he  held  in  reserve; 
unknown  to  most  of  the  parties  and  factions  in 
volved  in  the  peaceful  settlement  of  the  strike  by 
commission,  Roosevelt  had  a  secret  understanding 
with  Senator  Quay,  a  leader  in  Pennsylvania 
affairs,  and  was  prepared,  if  the  need  came,  to  send 
Federal  troops  under  General  Schofield,  at  a  half 
hour's  notice,  declare  martial  law  in  the  mining 
regions,  and  compel  peace  by  force  of  arms. 

The  harmonious  relations  between  Matthew 
Quay  and  Theodore  Roosevelt,  as  intimated  by 
this  incident,  were  singular ^and  surprising,  yet  real 
and  revelatory.  They  were  certainly  very  widely 
different  types  of  men.  Yet  there  was  a  strain  of 
nobility  common  to  them  which  helped  to  unite 
them.  Roosevelt  says  in  his  Autobiography  that 
soon  after  he  became  President,  Senator  Quay 


216    ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

called  upon  him,  and  with  characteristic  frankness 
said,  "Most  men  who  claim  to  be  reformers  are 
hypocrites.  But  I  believe  that  you  are  sincere. 
And  I  will  support  you  in  your  administration  to 
the  best  of  my  ability."  "This  he  did,"  Roosevelt 
adds.  There  was  always  a  tacit  respect  and  ad 
miration  between  those  two  fighters.  And  one  of 
my  classmates  has  told  me  —  a  slight  addition  to 
what  Roosevelt  has  modestly  written  in  his  Auto 
biography  —  that  when  Roosevelt  went  to  call  upon 
Quay,  Quay  then  being  near  his  end  and  having 
sent  for  Roosevelt,  the  veteran  politician  of  Penn 
sylvania  among  other  things  said,  "I  have  asked 
you  to  come  and  see  me  that  I  might  again  tell 
you,  as  I  once  before  told  you,  how  much  I  respect 
you." 

Recalling  this  account  of  the  coal  strike  as  given 
us  in  detail  by  Roosevelt  at  our  class  dinner,  I  am 
reminded  of  other  incidents  of  that  dinner.  I  was 
standing  near  Roosevelt  just  before  we  sat  down 
to  dinner,  and  one  of  the  members  of  our  class  came 
up  to  him  and  in  a  modest,  hesitating  way,  asked, 
"Well,  Roosevelt,  what  shall  we  call  you  now?" 
My  eminent  classmate,  friendly  and  smiling,  pre 
tended  not  to  understand  the  man's  question,  and 
replied,  "Call  me  —  why,  what  do  you  mean?"  And 
the  man  explained.  "Why  —  of  course  you  are 
President  of  the  United  States  now;  and  what 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLATEAU 

ought  we  to  call  you?"  Roosevelt's  reply  was 
prompt  and  hearty:  "Why,  call  me  just  what  you 
always  called  me.  If  you  used  to  call  me  'Presi 
dent  Roosevelt,'  you  can  call  me  that  now.  But 
if  you  used  to  call  me  'Roosevelt,'  call  me  'Roose 
velt'  now." 

And  I  recall  that  as  Roosevelt  ended  his  long 
narration  of  official  struggles  and  perplexities, 
that  night  at  our  class  dinner,  it  suddenly  occurred 
to  him  that  we  might  feel  that  he  had  simply  been 
unloading  upon  us  a  long,  doleful  tale  of  woe. 
And  his  face  lighted  up  more  than  ever  and  he 
exclaimed  joyously,  "But  I  don't  want  you  fellows 
to  think  I'm  sick  of  my  job.  I'm  not.  I  like  it. 
Yes,  and  I  think  I'm  equal  to  it." 

That  last  sentence  was  a  characteristic  burst  of 
confidence.  He  knew  that  he  was  indeed  equal  to 
it.  And  he  said  so,  with  the  same  boyish  frankness 
with  which  he  would  have  confessed  failure,  if 
failure  it  had  been.  He  was  quite  unspoiled  by  his 
honors.  To  be  sure,  in  any  colloquy,  at  the  White 
House  or  elsewhere,  he  was  apt  to  take  the  lead. 
But  why  not?  It  belonged  to  him.  Doctor  Alex 
ander  Lambert,  speaking  to  me  on  this  point,  said, 
"At  dinner  parties,  at  the  White  House  or  at 
Oyster  Bay,  he  did  most  of  the  talking.  But  his 
guests  expected  him  to  do  it.  They  went  there 
to  hear  him,  to  get  as  much  of  him  as  they  could. 


218     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

And,  apropos  of  his  unspoiled  nature,  even  after 
he  had  returned  from  his  trip  to  Africa  and  had 
been  feasted  and  feted  in  all  the  European  capitals, 
he  remained  the  same  impulsive,  outspoken  Roose 
velt  as  of  old."  Doctor  Lambert  took  him  and  a 
few  friends,  directly  after  Roosevelt's  return,  to  a 
camp  in  Maine  for  a  few  days.  And  there  Roose 
velt  bore  his  share  of  the  usual  camp  duties,  chat 
ting  and  laughing  through  it  all,  and  always 
solicitous  for  the  comfort  of  the  other  members  of 
the  party. 

Through  the  observation  of  his  official  routine 
work  and  his  definite  reforms,  a  deep,  broad  con 
fidence  in  their  President  was  growing  up  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people  of  the  country.  They  were 
more  and  more  confident  of  two  of  his  qualities. 
First,  that  he  desired  supremely,  in  an  old-fash 
ioned,  ingenuous  way,  to  do  what  was  right,  and 
to  do  it  because  it  was  right.  And  second,  not 
only  the  people  of  the  United  States,  but  the 
nations  of  the  world  saw  that  he  kept  his  word, 
that  he  did  what  he  said  he  would  do.  This  con 
viction  of  his  intensity  and  tenacity  of  purpose 
was  what  caused  the  German  Ambassador  Hol- 
leben  to  bestir  himself,  in  1902,  when  Venezuelan 
affairs  were  disturbing  Great  Britain  and  Ger 
many  and,  incidentally,  the  United  States  and  its 
Monroe  Doctrine.  Roosevelt  told  the  German 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLATEAU  219 

ambassador  that  unless  Germany  consented  to  arbi 
trate  regarding  Venezuela,  the  American  squadron, 
fifty  vessels,  then  mobilized  at  Porto  Rico  under 
Admiral  Dewey,  would  go  to  the  Venezuelan  coast 
and  check  German  aggressions  there.  Holleben 
haggled  over  the  matter.  He  thought  that  Roose 
velt  was  merely  bluffing.  He  did  not  know  him. 
A  week  of  idle  talk  ensued.  Then  Holleben  called 
on  the  President  upon  an  entirely  different 
matter  and  did  not  mention  Venezuela.  Roosevelt 
reminded  him  of  it  and  asked  if  he  Tiad  taken  any 
steps  toward  arbitration.  Holleben  replied  that 
he  had  not.  "Then,"  the  President  rejoined 
sharply,  "I  shall  send  Dewey  and  his  ships  a  day 
sooner  than  I  had  planned." 

That  brought  the  elusive  German  official  to  his 
senses.  For  he  knew  that  if  Roosevelt  said  he 
would  strike,  he  would  certainly  do  so.  And  a 
message  came  from  Germany  within  thirty-six 
hours,  agreeing  to  the  arbitration. 

I  myself  saw,  at  close  quarters,  another  illus 
tration  of  the  established  reputation  of  President 
Roosevelt  as  a  man  of  his  word.  I  was  at  Tangier 
soon  after  the  Perdicaris-Rarsuli  affair.  Raisuli, 
a  Moroccan  bandit,  abducted  the  American, 
Perdicaris,  from  Tangier,  carried  him  back  into 
the  wild  interior,  and  from  there  negotiated  for 
an  enormous  ransom.  The  Moor  had  known 


220     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

Perdicaris  in  a  friendly  way,  and  now  gave  him 
considerate  treatment,  but  held  him  close  and 
awaited  a  ransom.  Negotiations  began  and  con 
tinued.  The  government  of  picturesque,  half- 
savage  Tangier  was  shared  among  representatives 
of  several  European  governments.  They  now 
made  a  show  of  threatening  Raisuli,  but  he  was 
unyielding.  He  held  his  valuable  captive  for  sev 
eral  weeks. 

Then  the  matter,  the  outrage,  came  to  Roose 
velt's  attention.  He  promptly  sent  word  to  Tangier 
that  if  Mr.  Perdicaris  was  not  set  free  within  forty- 
eight  hours,  an  American  warship  would  shell  the 
town.  That  brought  life  into  the  somnolent  ne 
gotiations.  And,  somehow,  the  "impossible"  was 
accomplished.  At  once  Raisuli  was  led  speedily  to 
surrender  his  captive  friend,  and  Tangier  breathed 
more  freely.  I  met  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Perdicaris. 
And,  further,  I  heard  the  comments  of  the  people, 
Levantines,  Moors,  and  others,  in  the  market  place. 
Said  one,  with  staring  eyes,  "That  Roosevelt  say 
he  do — and  he  do"  Another  exclaimed,  "What 
President!  What  President!  He  always  do  — 
what  he  talk." 

Gradually  the  world  was  learning  that  President 
Roosevelt  really  loved  what  was  right  and  true 
and  was  earnestly  trying  to  act  in  accord  with  his 
ideals.  This  elemental  ethical  fact  American  poli- 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLATEAU  221 

ticians  were  almost  slower  to  learn  than  were  the 
high  officials  of  foreign  lands.  The  usual  hordes 
of  office-seekers  and  place-hunters  besieged  the 
White  House.  Miss  Ellen  Hale,  daughter  of  the 
late  Edward  Everett  Hale,  told  me  a  tale  which 
lays  bare  selfishness  and  the  blighted  hopes  of 
certain  of  these  gentry.  Miss  Hale,  an  artist, 
greatly  desired  to  make  a  drawing  of  President 
Roosevelt.  But  he  told  her  that  he  could  not  pos 
sibly  spare  time  for  the  sittings.  "Nevertheless," 
added  he,  "if  you  care  to  set  up  your  easel  in  my 
office  in  the  White  House,  and  try  to  do  your  work 
while  I  am  doing  mine,  I  would  be  most  willing  to 
give  you  that  privilege." 

So  Miss  Hale  set  up  her  easel  in  one  corner,  and 
started  upon  her  task.  And  this  was  the  point  of 
the  story,  as  she  told  it  to  me.  "Men  came  and 
went,"  she  said.  "I  was  free  to  listen  or  not. 
Often  this  situation  came  about.  A  man  would 
come  in  and  greet  the  President ;  then  —  *I  would 

be  glad,  Mr.  President,  if  you  could '  Here, 

perhaps,  he  discovered  poor  little  me  over  in  the 
corner,  painting  away  for  dear  life.  And  his  tone 
altered  at  once.  In  a  lowered  tone  he  went  on, 
'But  this  is  a  private  matter,  Mr.  President.  Quite 
confidential  between  us,  I  assure  you/  And  his 
distrustful  glance  was  directed  toward  my  corner. 

"Then,  what  fun  it  was  —  and  the  incident  was 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

oft-repeated  —  to  see  Mr.  Roosevelt's  peculiar  and 
mischievous  smile,  as  he  reassured  the  man,  'My 
dear  Mr.  Smith,  you  can  go  right  ahead.  You  can 
say  anything  to  me  here  which  you  could  say  any 
where.' 

"Sometimes  the  uneasy  man  went  on  and  stated 
his  wishes.  But  often  his  face  clouded  and  he 
strode  out  abruptly,  and  with  manifest  wrath." 

When  Roosevelt  became  Vice-president,  Doctor 
John  M.  Schick,  pastor  of  Grace  Reformed 
Church,  Washington,  D.  C.,  wrote  him,  inviting 
him  to  attend  services  in  Grace  Church.  Roosevelt 
accepted  the  invitation,  and,  during  his  terms  as 
Vice-president  and  President,  while  in  Washing 
ton  was  very  regularly  in  his  place  at  the  morning 
service.  When  he  could  not  come,  his  rule  was  to 
send  a  note  to  Doctor  Schick,  expressing  his  regret. 

Roosevelt  invariably  walked  to  and  from  church. 
Members  of  his  family  and  White  House  visitors 
were  often  with  him.  He  came  into  the  sanctuary 
a  minute  before  service  began,  with  such  prompt 
ness  that  it  was  a  common  saying  in  the  neighbor 
hood  that  people  could  set  their  watches  by  the 
minute  of  his  entrance  into  the  church. 

In  the  early  period  of  his  attendance,  he  was 
once  late,  due  to  the  incorrectness  of  the  White 
House  clock.  He  was  much  embarrassed,  profuse 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLATEAU  22 

in  his  apologies  to  the  church  usher,  and  promised 
"it  will  never  happen  again."     It  never  did. 

He  was  a  devout  worshiper,  participating  in  the 
service  and  most  heartily  in  the  singing.  He  was 
a  keen  listener  and  often  took  notes  of  things  said 
and  announced.  Whenever  there  was  a  call  to  aid 
the  poor,  he  responded  next  day  with  a  generous 
check.  He  regularly  participated  in  the  quarterly 
celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion. 

Doctor  Schick  was  a  straightforward,  sterling 
character,  and  Roosevelt  was  very  fond  of  him, — 
always  met  him  and  had  time  for  him  when  he 
called,  however  pressing  the  duties  of  the  presiden 
tial  office.  Roosevelt  participated  in  a  number  of 
special  services  at  Grace  Church,  and  gave  the 
congregation  a  fine  portrait  of  himself,  painted 
just  before  he  became  Vice-president. 

As  we  look  back  now,  over  the  completed  life 
work  of  Theodore  Roosevelt,  our  opinions  might 
differ  as  to  what  was  the  greatest  contribution  of 
his  career  to  the  world.  But  he  himself,  looking 
backward  from  the  year  1920,  reviewing  his  own 
efforts  and  weighing  his  many  reforms,  fixed  upon 
the  Panama  Canal  as  his  most  noteworthy  achieve 
ment,  and  so  stated  in  his  Autobiography. 

After  his  term  of  office  at  the  White  House  was 
ended,  I  read  in  several  newspapers,  which  had 
been  extreme  in  their  opposition  to  him,  that  "The 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

most  important  contribution  he  has  made  to  the 
well-being  of  the  country  has  been  his  raising  the 
moral  standards  of  the  youth  of  the  land."  What 
he  would  have  said  on  that  point  I  do  not  know. 
Certainly  he  had  thought  of  such  a  matter,  though 
briefly,  for  he  thought  of  most  sides  of  most  mat 
ters,  and  always  with  acumen.  But  more  interest 
ing  to  him,  because  more  definite  and  more  fought 
for,  was  the  great  waterway  between  the  two 
Americas,  vainly  dreamed  of  for  centuries  and  by 
him  created. 

My  own  interest  in  the  Canal  had  been  sketchy 
indeed,  but  real.  In  1881  I  met  the  then  aged 
Count  De  Lesseps  in  Paris,  and  I  looked  at  his 
huge  frame  and  blond,  benign  countenance  with 
memories  in  my  mind  of  the  Suez  Canal  which  had 
brought  him,  its  projector,  deserved  renown.  At 
that  very  time  he  was  planning  to  cut  a  waterway 
across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  But  the  Suez  Canal, 
with  its  level  territory  and  sandy  soil,  was  mere 
play  compared  with  the  projected  cut  across  that 
almost  impossible  Central  American  isthmus. 

So  the  millions  of  francs  poured  by  France  into 
the  Isthmian  scheme  were  swallowed  up,  the  work 
slackened,  difficulties  overwhelmed,  and  the  canal 
was  pushed  only  a  few  miles  on  its  way  across  the 
obdurate  country.  I  was  reminded  of  De  Lesseps 
and  his  failure  a  few  years  later,  when  in  Palestine. 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLATEAU 

As  we  sought  to  travel  from  Jaffa  up  to  Jerusalem, 
we  were  shown  into  a  train  of  tiny  cars,  driven  by 
a  dwarf -like  locomotive,  on  a  narrow-gauge  track. 
And  when  I  inquired  about  this  singular  train,  I 
was  told  that  it  had  been  sent  from  the  Panama 
Canal  region.  Several  of  these  cars  and  engines 
seemed  the  sole  remnants  of  that  unhappy  Gallic 
enterprise. 

The  Panama  Canal  project,  as  taken  up  by 
President  Roosevelt  and  pushed  to  a  successful 
end,  dragged  its  serpentine  length  through  several 
years  of  Roosevelt's  administration  and  beyond  it. 
Also  we  may  say  that  it  had  roots,  antecedents,  a 
history  running  back,  at  least  in  fancy,  to  Balboa's/ 
day.  Treaties  and  revolutions  had  succeeded  one1 
another,  and  if  Roosevelt  had  not  been  the  genius 
of  energy  that  he  was,  treaties  would  still  be  pend 
ing  in  Washington  and  revolutions  would  still  be 
existent  and  tyrannous  in  Colombia.  There  was 
the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty  of  1850,  and  the  Hay-- 
Pauncefote  Treaty,  and  the  Hay-Herran  Treaty 
and  sundry  other  little  tentative  inquiries  and  un 
derstandings  and  questionings,  stretching  down 
over  the  decades  like  vines  over  a  trellis.  There 
was  a  steadily  increasing  conviction,  evident  among 
all  the  leading  governments  of  the  world,  that  some 
kind  of  canal  could  and  should  be  constructed.  ! 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

But  there  the  matter  hung,  jealously  watched  by 
several  interested  nations. 

Then  Roosevelt,  very  soon  after  the  untimely 
death  of  President  McKinley,  put  into  action  ideas 
which  had  been  germinating  in  his  mind  for  several 
years  past.  In  a  characteristic  address  which  he 
made  in  1911,  at  the  University  of  California,  he 
gave  a  summary  of  his  action,  which  was  as  clear 
and  humorous  as  Lincoln's  communications  often 
were.  He  said: 

"I  am  interested  in  the  Panama  Canal  because 
I  started  it.  If  I  had  followed  traditional,  con 
servative  methods,  I  should  have  submitted  a 
dignified  state  paper  of  probably  two  hundred 
pages  to  Congress,  and  the  debate  would  probably 
be  going  on  now.  But  I  took  the  Canal  Zone  and 
let  Congress  debate.  And  while  the  debate  goes 
on,  the  Canal  goes  on  also." 

That  was  Roosevelt's  way.  He  preferred, 
always,  to  move  in  harmony  with  established  laws 
and  precedents.  But  when  these  merely  impeded 
him,  when  they  were  even  thrown  across  the  path 
of  his  plans  by  his  enemies,  like  logs  across  a  railroad 
track,  he  simply  removed  them  and  went  ahead. 
As  we  look  back  at  the  childish,  refractory  conduct 
of  elementary  Colombia  and  its  feather-brained 
revolutionists,  we  can  face  the  problem  in  its  large 
world-outlines.  The  industrial,  commercial  world 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLATEAU  227 

needed  a  canal  cut  through  the  isthmus.  And  all 
plans  were  being  juggled  and  the  world's  needs 
were  being  disregarded  by  the  unscrupulous,  half- 
civilized  demagogues  of  that  Central  American 
country.  It  was,  as  happened  before  in  Roosevelt's 
career,  a  Gordian  knot.  And  he  cut  it.  I  believe  j 
that  his  action  was  entirely  justifiable  in  the  Court 
of  Equity. 

In  his  Autobiography  he  takes  pains  to  say 
pleasant,  approving  things  about  certain  superior 
social  types  and  groups  in  Colombia;  but  in  con 
versation,  even  in  after-dinner  speaking,  he  said 
—  at  least  on  one  occasion  —  things  which  were  not 
so  complimentary.  When  I  was  at  Trinidad,  West 
Indies,  in  1920,  friends  there  told  me  about  Roose 
velt's  brief  visit  to  the  island  and  about  a  formal 
dinner  given  him.  In  his  address  after  the  dinner, 
he  spoke  of  local  affairs  and  mentioned  their  neigh 
bor,  Colombia,  saying  casually  that  the  Colombians 
were  of  light  weight,  scarcely  capable  of  self- 
government.  But  the  Colombian  consul  happened, 
alas,  to  be  among  the  guests ;  and  naturally  he  re 
sented  any  such  opinion.  He  even  sent  to  Mr. 
Roosevelt  a  challenge  to  mortal  combat.  But  the 
veteran  of  San  Juan  gave  no  attention  to  it  and 
departed,  as  he  had  planned,  on  the  early  morning 
steamer. 

Any  one  who  knew  Roosevelt's  fine  courtesy 


228     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

knew  that  his  words  at  that  dinner  were  uttered 
without  the  slightest  suspicion  of  the  consul's  being 
present.  But  the  speech  must  have  made  many  of 
the  guests  extremely  uneasy. 

So  the  work  on  the  canal  went  forward  steadily, 
although  amid  very  grave  obstacles  in  that  mos 
quito-ridden,  fever-smitten  tropical  region.  The 
President  always  gave  most  hearty  praise  to  the 
skill  and  patience  of  Colonel  Goethals,  the  efficient 
engineer  and  director  of  the  work.  And  when 
Congress  insisted  upon  putting  the  direction  of 
the  work  under  a  commission,  Roosevelt,  who  felt 
that  he  ought  to  make  some  show  of  compliance 
with  their  stupid  demand,  appointed  Colonel 
Goethals  chairman  of  that  body  and  gave  him  such 
full  power  that  he  remained  practically  the  con 
trolling  spirit. 

Thus  through  days  of  work,  and  controversy, 
and  self-control,  and  high  devotion,  Roosevelt  went 
forward  across  the  lofty  plateau  of  the  Presidency. 
Puzzling  thickets  there  were  on  that  broad  expanse, 
and  many  barriers  and  unexpected  gullies.  But 
joyously  th'e  untiring  traveler  went  on  his  way, 
the  wonder,  the  hope,  the  trust  of  the  people.  In 
the  midst  of  the  plateau,  halfway  across  the  broad 
plain,  came  the  pause,  the  inn,  the  semblance  of 
brief  respite.  Then  forward,  across  the  beckoning 
expanse,  which  men  called  his  Second  Term. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

ELECTED  PRESIDENT 

Who  is  the  Happy  Warrior? 
'  'Tis  he  whose  law  is  reason,  who  depends 
Upon  that  law  as  on  the  best  of  friends ; 

He  labors  good  on  good  to  fix,  and  owes 
To  virtue  every  triumph  that  he  knows : 
.  .  .  Who,  if  he  rise  to  station  of  command, 
Rises  by  open  means ;  and  there  will  stand 
On  honorable  terms,  or  else  retire, 
And  in  himself  possess  his  own  desire; 
Who  comprehends  his  trust,  and  to  the  same 
Keeps  faithful  with  a  singleness  of  aim." 

It  may  seem  a  self-contradictory  question  to 
ask  —  "Can  anything  be  higher  than  the  highest?" 
But,  in  Roosevelt's  case,  at  this  point  in  his  career, 
the  question  might  be  answered  forcefully  in  the 
affirmative.  "There  can  be  a  higher  than  the 
highest."  He  had  been  President,  to  all  intents 
and  purposes,  for  more  than  three  years.  He  had 
borne  all  the  presidential  responsibilities  and  exer 
cised  all  the  presidential  prerogatives.  But  his 
position  and  power  had  come  as  an  accident.  None 
knew  this  better  than  himself. 

His  wise,  firm  administration  through  the  three 


230     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

years  had  added  to  his  prestige.  And  now,  as  the 
presidential  election  of  1904  drew  near,  there  was 
hardly  a  question  in  the  mind  of  any  intelligent 
citizen  as  to  his  continuance  —  now  by  election  — 
in  the  presidential  office.  He  himself  was  perfectly 
well  aware  that  he  had  met  the  wishes  of  a  very 
large  majority  of  the  voters  of  the  country.  Yet 
his  experience  had  taught  him,  as  experience  had 
taught  sadly  many  of  us,  that  the  people  as  a  whole 
might  desire  a  man  for  President  and  yet  not  get 
him,  because  that  man  was  not  acceptable  to  the 
party  managers, — sometimes  called  "The  Old 
Guard",  or  again,  "The  Gang." 

Roosevelt  said  openly,  frankly,  with  that  in 
genuous,  childlike  quality  in  him,  that  he  "would 
be  glad  to  be  elected,  really  elected,  this  time,  to 
the  high  presidential  office,  in  his  own  right,  be 
cause  he  had  served  his  country  well."  Indeed  he 
had,  and  incidentally  he  had  enjoyed  the  work 
immensely.  Several  times,  in  public  as  in  private, 
he  had  declared  —  protecting  his  idealism  with  a 
plain  garment  of  homespun  humor  —  that  he  "liked 
his  job." 

"Uneasy  lies  the  head  that  wears  a  crown"  did 
not  apply  to  this  man.  His  love  of  action  was  so 
great  that  the  gratification  of  that  love  offset  all 
accompanying  cares  and  anxieties  and  pangs  of 
failures.  He  felt  the  cares  and  disappointments 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  231 

keenly,  but  his  resilient  nature  threw  them  off:  he 
reacted  immediately  against  them,  and  with  that 
reaction  came  instantly  a  state  of  joy.  In  fact, 
following  this  lead,  I  venture  to  repeat  that  he 
did  not  much  enjoy  —  as  do  most  normal  persons 
— the  theater,  the  lecture,  the  concert,  the  opera, 
and  the  picture  gallery.  The  reason  for  it  is  this,  as 
I  interpret  his  nature.  The  pleasure  from  all  these 
high  arts  is  a  pleasure  that  assumes  passivity  in  the 
listener  or  observer.  And  Roosevelt  .got  but  little 
joy  from  passive  mental  states.  Further,  in  the 
case  of  the  theater,  I  think  that  its  simulations, 
artistic  though  they  might  be,  were  distrusted  by 
him.  He  was  fiercely  eager  for  what  is  genuine, 
without  any  pretence.  And  he  could  not,  or  would 
not,  enough  subordinate  this  craving  for  reality 
and  sincerity  to  allow  him  to  enjoy  the  simulations 
of  the  stage. 

In  the  revealing  Trevelyan  letters,  Roose 
velt's  unofficial  personal  life  is  laid  before  us  with 
unreserve.  It  is  the  inner  man,  the  reader,  scholar, 
observer  of  life,  that  is  shown  us.  And,  in  a  letter 
written  in  Africa  in  1909,  he  frees  his  mind  about 
Carlyle  in  a  way  which  greatly  pleases  me.  Un 
reality,  whether  in  a  stage  drama  or  on  a  page  of 
history  or  biography,  is  equally  abhorrent  to  him. 
He  says,  writing  intimately,  "The  more  I  read 
Carlyle  the  more  I  feel  contempt  for  his  shrieking 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

deification  of  shams.  I  can't  stand  his  hypocrisy, 
his  everlasting  praise  of  veracity  joined  with  Ais 
mendacity  in  giving  a  false  color  to  history  and  a 
false  twist  to  ethics.  With  sanctimonious  piety 
he  condemns  as  wrong-doing  in  the  French  that 
which  he  imputes  to  Frederick  the  Great  for 
righteousness.  With  Carlyle  morality  is  used  as 
a  synonym  for  ruthless  efficiency." 

Directly  following  a  full,  long  page  of  this  kind 
of  fierce  indictment  comes,  like  a  commonplace 
cold  compress  on  one's  heated  brow,  the  lines,  "The 
^porters  are  just  bringing  into  camp  the  skin  and 
tusks  of  a  bull  elephant  which  I  killed,  three  days 
ago;  and  Kermit  got  another,  yesterday.  Between 
us,  we  have  killed  seventeen  lions." 

Two  points  about  that  letter.  First,  the  rapidity 
with  which  very  diverse  moods  followed  one  an 
other  in  Roosevelt's  mobile  mind,  and,  second,  it 
occurs  to  me  that  in  denouncing  Carlyle's  insin 
cerity  he  is  condemning  a  man  who  almost 
worshiped  the  Roosevelt  type  of  man.  And  I 
wonder  what  the  Sage  of  Chelsea  —  to  me  largely 
a  brilliant  poseur  —  would  have  said  and  written 
about  Theodore  Roosevelt,  a  phenomenon  of 
initiative,  self-reliance,  and  power,  had  he  lived 
after  Roosevelt,  instead  of  before  him. 

Roosevelt  "liked  his  job."  He  was  indeed,  as 
Acting  President,  "The  Happy  Warrior."  He 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  233 

hoped  to  continue  his  battling  for  right  and  justice 
and  progress  through  another  four  years.  The 
lofty  plateau  of  national  official  honors  and  duties 
already  had  been  half-crossed  by  him  and  the  re 
maining  half  now  beckoned.  It  was  "the  call  of 
the  Presidency"  to  him,  attractive  and  rich  in 
promise  of  high,  brave  service. 

For  his  reelection  —  or,  better,  his  real  election 
—  Roosevelt  trusted  to  "the  plain  people."  He  had 
a  graphic  cartoon  fastened  on  one  of  the  walls  of 
the  White  House  during  several  months.  It  was 
the  picture  of  a  plain,  bucolic,  shrewd-looking  in 
dividual  seated,  in  shirt  sleeves  and  stocking  feet, 
before  the  fireplace,  reading  his  daily  nev/spaper. 
"That  is  the  man,"  Roosevelt  frequently  explained, 
"who  is  my  hope.  If  I  can  meet  that  old  fellow's 
ideas  of  right  and  justice  I  shall  be  satisfied.  For 
he  is  The  American  People."  - 

Roosevelt,  through  skillful  use  of  the  newspaper 
reporters  and  by  square  dealing  with  them  —  at 
Washington  as  in  New  York  —  had  got  his  real 
aims  and  purposes,  uncorrupted,  undistorted  by 
the  bosses  of  Labor  and  Capital,  to  the  ear,  eye, 
and  will  of  "the  plain  people."  There  was  his 
strength  and  his  hope.  He  had  distrust  concern 
ing  Mark  Hanna,  who  had  been  practically  the 
"power  behind  the  throne"  throughout  gentle, 
peace-loving  McKinley's  administration.  And 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

Mark  Hanna,  sounding  Roosevelt,  sent  him  a  sig 
nificant  telegram  in  1903,  in  which  he  hinted  at 
the  advisability  of  Roosevelt's  "keeping  in"  with 
him  as  the  probable  arbiter  of  the  young  candi 
date's  future  fate  and  fortune. 

To  this  subtle  communication  Roosevelt  replied 
scornfully,  "I  have  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  state 
issue  which  you  refer  to,  and  I  have  asked  no  man 
for  his  vote."  So  he  "played  his  hand  alone", 
trusting  to  the  intelligence  and  probity  of  the 
bucolic  gentleman  reading  his  newspaper  by  the 
open  fire. 

Roosevelt's  straightforward  letter  at  this  time 
to  a  straightforward  man,  Baron  d'Estournelles  de 
Constant,  of  France, — for  I  knew  him,  and  he  was 
that — sets  this  forth  so  simply  and  effectively  that 
I  quote  a  few  passages  of  it. 

"Of  course  I  would  like  to  be  reflected  Presi 
dent.  ...  so  far  as  I  can  I  shall  give  heed  to 
considerations  of  political  expediency;  I  would  be 
unfit  for  the  position  or  for  any  leadership  if  I  did 
not  do  this.  But  when  questions  of  deep  principles 
arise,  real  expediency  is  to  be  found  in  unflinching 
adherence  to  those  principles,  no  matter  what  the 
temporary  effect.  When  matters  of  elementary 
justice  arise  there  can  be  no  compromise.  Murder 
is  murder  and  theft  is  theft,  and  there  can  be  no 
halfway  measures  in  dealing  with  criminality. 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  235 

There  are  good  men  and  bad  men  under  all  creeds, 
colors,  and  nationalities.  If  this  world  is  to  im 
prove,  it  must  be  by  the  recognition  that  a  man's 
heart  and  soul,  his  worth  and  action,  determine 
his  standing.  ...  I  would  rather  lose  the  Presi 
dency  than  gain  it  by  failing  in  any  way  to  put  a 
stop,  so  far  as  I  am  able,  to  lynching  and  brutality 
and  wrong  of  all  kinds." 

He  goes  on,  in  this  same  letter,  to  speak  of  his 
pressing  problems  regarding  Labor  and  Capital. 
But  he  puts  the  same  ideas  more  simply  in  a  letter 
to  his  old-time  friend,  Bill  Sewall. 

"I  am  a  little  melancholy  because  it  is  so  hard 
to  persuade  different  kinds  of  people  to  accept 
equal  justice  for  all.  I  believe  in  rich  people  who 
act  squarely  and  in  labor  unions  which  are  man 
aged  with  wisdom  and  justice.  But  when  either 
employer  or  employee,  capitalist  or  laboring  man 
goes  wrong,  I  have  to  cinch  him.  And  that  is  all 
there  is  to  it." 

In  truth  he  felt  that  with  Capital  on  the  one  side 
and  Labor  on  the  other,  both  threatening  him,  he 
was  as  one  between  the  upper  and  nether  mill 
stones.  Yet  any  "melancholy"  which  he  felt  was 
but  momentary  and  did  not  undermine  his  habitual 
confidence  in  right  and  the  conscience  and  intelli 
gence  of  the  American  people. 

John  Hay,  in  his  diary,  records  an  incident  that 


236     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

occurred  at  this  time,  which  is  sweet  and  distinctly 
revealing  as  to  Roosevelt's  real  sincerity  with 
himself.  Hay  happened  to  come  upon  him  as  he 
was  reading  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson's  poem, 
"Days."  And  Roosevelt  read  aloud  the  last  line, 
—  "I,  too  late,  under  her  solemn  fillet  saw  the 
scorn."  Said  Hay,  his  close  friend,  "I  fancy  you 
do  not  know  what  that  means?"  And  the  Presi 
dent  exclaimed  quickly,  "Oh,  but  I  do.  Perhaps 
the -greatest  men  do  not;  but  I,  in  my  soul,  know 
I  am  but  the  average  man,  and  that  only  marvelous 
good  fortune  has  brought  me  where  I  am." 

To  me  a  touching  scene,  that:  a  soul-searching, 
sincere  confessional,  as  between  two  trusting 
friends.  Theodore  Roosevelt  meant  what  he  said. 
I  have  heard  the  same  declaration  from  his  in 
genuous  lips.  Nevertheless,  he  was  more,  much 
more  than  an  average  man;  he  was  a  great  man, 
and  his  very  simplicity  was  one  of  the  marks  of  his 
greatness. 

The  presidential  election  was  held  on  November 
8,  1904,  and  Roosevelt's  overwhelming  majority 
was  about  two  millions  and  a  half  out  of  a  total  of 
thirteen  and  a  half  million  votes  cast.  The  people 
approved  him  and  desired  more  of  him. 

The  inauguration  took  place  on  March  4,  1905, 
and  Washington  was  a  brilliant  and  happy  city  on 
that  day.  The  usual  formalities  were  observed,  and 


SACAMORE    HILL. 


LETTKIl    FKOAt    liOOSEVELT    TO    THE    AUTHOR. 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT 

in  addition  sundry  exceptional  details  may  be  here 
mentioned.  One  is  that  qn  that  eventful  day 
Roosevelt  wore  the  ring  which  had  been  given  him 
by  John  Hay.  It  was  a  gold  ring  with  a  lock  of 
Abraham  Lincoln's  hair  in  it.  How  much  it  meant 
to  Roosevelt  they  alone  can  realize  who  realize  how 
deeply  he  reverenced  Lincoln. 

In  passing,  I  suggest  that  this  ring  is  the  one 
that  put  the  tiny  dents,  many  in  number,  into  the 
surface  of  Roosevelt's  desk  at  the  White  House. 
A  friend  assures  me  that  he  has  seen  them.  They 
were  caused  by  my  classmate's  vigorous  and  re 
peated  manual  emphasis  of  his  mental  moods  and 
tenses,  as  he  conferred  with  visitors. 

A  unique  item  on  the  program  was  that  fifty 
cowboys,  or  Rough  Riders,  in  full  frontier  regalia, 
with  lassoes,  and  riding  Indian  ponies,  formed  a 
part  of  the  procession.  To  add  variety  to  the 
march  they  several  times  lassoed  pedestrians  who 
happened  to  stray  too  near  their  line. 

A  letter  of  Matthew  Hale's,  from  which  I  take 
these  bits  of  information,  says  that  on  the  exciting 
morning  of  the  inauguration,  when  the  White 
House  was  under  some  pressure,  "Mrs.  Roosevelt 
alone  seemed  perfectly  natural.  First  she  did  a 
little  knitting  in  the  library;  then  she  poured  some 
'eye-drops'  into  Mrs.  Cowles'  eyes."  The  incident 
confirms  my  own  admiring  judgment  about  Mrs. 


238     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

Roosevelt;  and  I  recall  a  scrap  from  my  school- 
book,  "Ex  uno  disce  omnes" 

In  these  post-bellum  days  we  hear  much  parrot- 
talk  about  "Internationalism"  uttered  by  men  and 
women  —  phrase-fed  people  —  who  are  satisfied 
with  mere  words.  And  they  fail  to  see  that  "Na 
tionalism"  and  "Internationalism"  are  ideals  that 
are  mutually  interactive.  Roosevelt  was  a  "Na 
tionalist",  yet  he  was  also  "International"  in  his 
sympathies.  And  when  he  saw,  at  this  period, 
1904,  two  great  nations,  Russia  and  Japan,  grap 
pling  eadji  other,  feeling  murderously  for  each 
other's  throats,  and  inevitably  thereby  disturbing 
the  welfare  of  the  world,  he  held  one  hand  firm  on 
the  helm  of  the  Ship  of  State,  and  he  stretched  out 
his  other  hand  to  render  aid  to  his  neighbor  nations. 
We  all  remember  that  Russo-Japanese  War.  The 
Russian  fleet  stealing  cautiously  down  through  the 
North  Sea  and,  misled  by  their  inflamed  nerves, 
firing  upon  the  craft  of  innocent  British  fishermen 
on  the  Dogger  Bank  and  sending  them  to  the  bot 
tom.  Then  the  great  fleet,  ill-fated  from  the  first, 
made  its  apologies  to  Great  Britain  and  passed  on 
its  half-hearted  way  across  the  seas  until  it  crept 
up  the  Chinese  coast  and  met  its  end  at  the  hands 
of  the  Little  Brown  Men  in  Japanese  waters. 

But  victory  costs  so  much,  often,  that  it  seems 
no  better  than  defeat.  And  the  war  was  not  over. 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  239 

President  Roosevelt  looked  on  and  saw  the  two 
antagonists,  breathless  and  well-nigh  exhausted,  in 
their  death  grapple.  They  reminded  him  of  what 
he  had  seen  on  the  wilds  of  Dakota  and  Colorado, 
—  two  noble  stags  fighting  furiously,  with  horns 
interlocked,  and  the  strength  of  both  at  lowest  ebb. 
And  he  stretched  out  a  hand  of  help  to  those 
grappling  nations.  He  put  an  end  to  the  hopeless 
struggle.  He  who  was  markedly  a  lover  of  conflict, 
of  battle  —  in  a  righteous  cause  —  brought  peace 
to  those  two  combatants. 

Viscount  Kaneko  told  me  much  about  it,  one 
sunny  day,  as  I  sat  with  him  in  his  charming  home 
at  Tokio.  I  had  gone  to  him  to  confer  upon  a  quite 
different  matter,  and  our  interview,  somewhat 
formal,  drew  to  an  end.  But,  as  I  arose  to  go,  I 
remarked,  "I  am  glad  to  see  that  you  have  a  picture 
of  my  college  classmate  Roosevelt  on  your  wall." 
At  once  Kaneko  —  who  was  himself  a  "Harvard 
man"  — became  interested  and  asked,  "Were  you 
really  in  the  famous  class  of  '80?"  Then  as  I  re 
plied  that  I  was  and  that  I  was  a  devoted  friend 
and  admirer  of  my  eminent  classmate,  his  formality 
vanished,  his  immobile  face  softened  into  a  smile, 
and  he  said,  "Sit  down,  please.  Let's  talk  about 
him.  For  I  too  am  his  friend  and  admirer."  So 
our  interview  lengthened  out  into  a  half -hour  and 
more.  And  he  told  me  about  Roosevelt's  generous, 


240     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

intelligent  activity  in  bringing  about  the  "Peace 
of  Portsmouth." 

He  recalled  his  own  agreeable  though  anxious 
visit  to  Oyster  Bay  and  went  considerably  into  de 
tails.  "He  has  been  stupidly  considered  a  hasty 
man",  commented  Viscount  Kaneko.  "But  such  an 
estimate  is  not  correct.  He  is  brilliant  and  some 
times  audacious,  in  his  lighter  moods;  but,  when 
any  serious  measure  is  before  him,  he  ponders  it, 
seeks  to  learn  about  all  sides  of  it,  listens  open- 
mindedly  to  good  counsel,  and  when  he  reaches  his 
decision,  he  is  always  right.  I  can  never  forget  how 
we  talked  and  talked  about  our  terrible  war  prob 
lem,  there  at  his  beautiful  home  by  the  sea." 

Roosevelt  held  the  situation  in  his  hands  because 
both  of  the  contending  and  now  exhausted  nations 
trusted  his  intellectual  and  moral  character.  And 
the  world  knows  now  what  a  great  work  he  did  for 
Russia  and  Japan  and  the  world,  in  helping  to  end 
that  war.  Baron  Rosen,  Russian  representative 
at  the  Portsmouth  Conference,  has  written,  "Both 
our  nations  owed  a  debt  of  profound  gratitude  to 
President  Roosevelt.  ...  In  the  eyes  of  history 
his  success  in  bringing  about  peace  will  be  re 
garded  as  his  crowning  achievement." 

Important  it  is  to  remember  that  great  peace 
achievement  of  Roosevelt's,  sane,  practical,  imme 
diate,  as  we  recall  the  abuse  that  has  been  heaped 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT 

upon  him  by  "Professional  Peace  Reformers", 
whose  aims  were  lofty  indeed,  but  whose  minds 
were  muddy  and  whose  observations  and  estimates 
of  human  nature  were  worthy  of  five-year-old 
children  in  the  nursery. 

As  always,  the  ludicrous  phases  of  his  several 
peace  interviews  lightened  the  strain  of  his  intense 
responsibility.  Lawrence  Abbott,  in  his  vivid,  de 
lightful  "Impressions",  has  recalled  two  of  these 
humorous  situations.  Roosevelt  had  consulted  the 
Japanese  envoys  and  was  assured  that  they  were 
quite  ready  to  accede  to  any  reasonable  terms. 
Then  he  went  to  the  Russian  envoys  and  asked  if 
they  would  join  in  a  conference  if  he  could  arrange 
with  the  Japanese  to  hold  one.  They  replied 
readily  that  they  would  be  glad  to  do  so.  "But," 
they  added,  "we  fear  that  the  Japanese  representa 
tives  will  not  consent."  Roosevelt  told  them  that 
he  would  see  what  he  could  do.  "And  all  the  time," 
said  Roosevelt  to  Lawrence  Abbott,  "I  had  the 
Japanese  request  in  my  pocket." 

I  must  not  bore  my  readers  with  too  many  ref 
erences  to  the  knot  tied  by  Gordius,  first  King  of 
Phrygia;  but  in  my  survey  of  my  classmate's 
career  I  am  reminded,  again  and  again,  that 
whereas  the  great  Alexander  cut  only  one  "Gor- 
dian  knot",  our  modern  conqueror  cut  many,  great 
and  small.  Roosevelt  told  friends  that  when  he 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

had  the  envoys  of  Japan  and  Russia  with  him  one 
day  on  board  the  presidential  yacht,  Mayflower,  in 
Oyster  Bay,  luncheon  was  announced.  Instantly 
Roosevelt  bethought  himself  as  to  what  delicate 
questions  of  precedence  needed  to  be  considered, 
as  he  invited  his  distinguished  guests  to  the  lunch 
eon  table.  He  had  not  the  slightest  idea  as  to  the 
established  code  suitable  for  the  occasion.  So  he 
promptly  cut  the  petty  Gordian  knot.  "Gentle 
men,"  he  said,  "shall  we  now  all  go  in  to  luncheon?" 
And  all  together  they  went  in;  there  was  no  Alpha 
or  Omega  about  it.  "Doubtless  they  were  all  some 
what  surprised,"  Roosevelt  smilingly  added,  "but 
they  probably  put  it  down  to  my  American  inexpe 
rience  in  social  matters." 

And  just  here  note  the  blending  of  two  very 
diverse  strains  in  Roosevelt's  nature.  In  a  certain 
sense  —  as  in  this  situation  —  he  thought  of  himself 
as  merely  a  man  among  men,  and  the  trifling  prob 
lems  of  social  precedence  made  him  smile.  But 
there  was  that  other  occasion,  when  Prince  Henry 
of  Prussia  was  a  guest  at  the  White  House,  and 
dull-witted,  devoted  Holleben  suggested  to  Roose 
velt  that  "Prince  Henry,  a  Hohenzollern,"  should 
precede  the  President  in  going  out  to  dinner.  With 
what  result?  I  would  give  much  to  have  seen 
Theodore  Roosevelt's  tense  countenance  and  to 
have  heard  his  incisive  tones,  as  he  replied  definj- 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT 

lively,  "No  person  living  precedes  the  President  of 
the  United  States  in  the  White  House."  I  respond 
even  now,  in  the  writing,  to  the  exalted,  patriotic 
sentiment  that  was  in  my  eminent  classmate's  heart 
as  he  uttered  that  proud  finality. 

The  highly  successful  diplomatic  work  of  Roose 
velt  in  ending  the  Russo-Japanese  War  naturally 
drew  upon  him  the  plaudits  of  the  civilized  world. 
And  this  approving  world-opinion  was  fittingly 
symbolized  in  the  Nobel  prize  of  a  medal  and  forty 
thousand  dollars  in  gold.  The  medal  he  of  course 
could  not  "put  from  him."  But  with  the  money 
he  did  as  did  that  ancient  Hebrew  warrior  in 
Adullam's  cave.  David  poured  out  the  precious 
cup  of  water  from  Bethlehem's  gate,  as  an  offering 
to  his  God.  He  consecrated  it;  he  dedicated  it  to 
the  Highest.  Similarly  did  Roosevelt.  Practical 
idealist  that  he  was,  he  could  not  use  that  money 
for  his  own  purposes.  He  could  not  accept  pay 
ment  for  doing  what  his  righteous  soul,  throughout 
his  life,  pledged  him  to  do,  —  the  Right.  So  he 
"consecrated"  that  gold  by  making  it  a  fund  to  be 
used  in  conference  and  arbitration  between  the  two 
great  warring  classes,  —  Labor  and  Capital. 

Roosevelt's  close  touch  with  newspaper  men  is 
illustrated  by  this  letter  sent  me  by  Robert  L. 
O'Brien,  now  editor  of  the  Boston  Herald: 

"In  1906  I  was  correspondent  of  the  Boston 


244     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

Transcript  at  Washington,  and  I  came  into  touch 
with  President  Roosevelt  frequently.  I  was  par 
ticularly  impressed  with  his  universality  of  infor 
mation.  Mr.  J.  K.  Ohl,  then  correspondent  of 
the  Atlanta  Constitution  and  afterwards  Manag 
ing  Editor  of  the  New  York  Herald,  once  said 
that  he  never  dropped  into  President  Roosevelt's 
office  without  finding  him  familiar  to  the  minute 
with  what  the  Atlanta  Constitution  was  saying  on 
all  public  questions. 

"Nor  was  this  experience  unusual.  Every 
newspaper  man  found  that  out.  My  first  acquaint 
ance  with  him  came  as  a  result  of  his  sending  for 
me  because  of  something  I  had  written  in  the 
Transcript  with  which  he  did  not  altogether  agree. 
After  that  I  visited  him  frequently.  I  noticed 
that  there  was  no  book  or  current  writing  in  fiction, 
in  biography,  in  history,  in  biology,  in  applied 
science  of  any  form,  with  which  he  did  not  seem 
absolutely  familiar,  up  to  the  minute. 

"Mr.  Bok,  in  his  recent  autobiography,  has  al 
luded  to  the  relations  that  I  had  with  President 
Roosevelt  on  his  account.  My  recollection  of  the 
story  is  a  little  more  detailed  than  Mr.  Bok's.  It 
came  about  when  William  Loeb,  Secretary  to  the 
President,  called  me  by  telephone  to  say  that  Mr. 
Bok  was  there  in  the  hope  of  inducing  the  Presi 
dent  to  run  a  regular  department  in  the  Ladies' 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  245 

Home  Journal.  Mr.  Loeb  properly  observed, 
'Of  course  the  President  of  the  United  States  can't 
do  that/  I  agreed  with  him  and  said  so.  I  told 
Mr.  Bok  what  the  White  House  had  told  me.  This 
led  to  the  slight  modification  of  the  plan  by  which 
I  became  introduced  into  it,  and  instead  of  Mr. 
Roosevelt's  running  the  department  himself,  he 
talked  with  me,  at  regular  periods,  during  the  time 
he  was  being  shaved,  and  I  wrote  out  an  interpre 
tation,  or  elaboration,  of  his  point  of  view,  and  it 
appeared,  regularly,  in  Mr.  Bok's  magazine,  in 
the  department  which  I  think  he  headed  'What 
the  President  Thinks.' 

"We  discussed  all  sorts  of  questions.  I  remem 
ber  one  on  which  President  Roosevelt  balked,  and 
that  was  woman  suffrage.  He  said  that  he  had 
voted  for  woman  suffrage  in  the  New  York  legis 
lature,  and  that  he  supposed  he  was  a  woman 
suffragist;  had  always  so  regarded  himself,  but 
that  there  were  certain  phases  of  feminine  public 
activity  which  had  considerably  disquieted  him, 
and  that  his  interest  in  the  anti-race  suicide  cam 
paign  had  led  him  to  place  less  emphasis  upon  the 
direct  participation  of  women  in  politics  than  he 
had  formerly  done.  At  all  events,  he  refused  to 
give  me  information  for  an  article  on  woman 
suffrage.  It  is  fair  to  record  that  he  afterwards 
publicly  spoke  with  enthusiasm  for  the  cause,  and 


246     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

the  Progressive  party,  of  which  he  was  the  great 
founder,  made  it  a  cornerstone. 

"Mr.  Roosevelt  had  a  wonderful  faculty  of 
coming  straight  to  the  point.  He  would  not  let 
any  one  tell  him  a  long  story.  He  saw  what  his 
caller  was  driving  at  and  jumped  into  the  conver 
sation  with  the  conclusion,  long  before  the  narrator 
reached  the  point  of  expressing  it.  I  noticed  this 
mannerism  many  times.  I  will  give  an  illustration. 

"Somebody  introduced  a  bill  in  Congress  to  con 
solidate  the  offices  of  Receiver  and  Registrar  of 
certain  land  offices  in  the  West.  It  is  fair  to  Con 
gress  to  say  that  it  permits  the  introduction  of  such 
bills,  but  so  far  as  I  have  observed,  never  passes 
them.  But  there  was  a  man  in  Montana,  of  a 
polysyllabic  Teutonic  name,  who  held  one  of  these 
offices,  and,  seeing  the  introduction  of  a  bill  for 
their  consolidation,  took  fright  lest  he  might  lose 
his  job.  He  accordingly  got  a  neighbor,  who  was 
coming  to  Washington,  to  see  the  President,  to 
argue  against  it.  I  imagine  that  the  neighbor  lay 
awake  nights  on  the  sleeping  car,  thinking  of  the 
arguments  that  he  would  present.  I  was  present 
when  he  arrived,  and  the  conversation  took  place. 
He  got  about  as  far  in  the  story  as  to  give  the 
polysyllabic  name  of  his  friend,  the  registrar  of 
the  land  office,  and  to  state  something  of  the  fear 
under  which  he  was  laboring. 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  247 

"Then  Roosevelt  cut  the  whole  dialogue  off  with 
these  words :  'You  go  back  and  tell  him  that  if  that 
is  all  he's  got  to  worry  about,  to  possess  his  soul 
in  patience.'  The  two-hour  address  was  at  an  end. 

"In  spite  of  his  very  friendly  relations  with  the 
newspapermen  and  with  the  world  as  a  whole, 
President  Roosevelt  was  always  thoroughly  con 
scious  of  the  dignity  of  the  presidential  office.  I 
remember  that  at  a  Gridiron  Club  dinner,  just 
after  his  election  in  1904,  somebody  asked 
facetiously  why  the  country  had  reflected  Mr. 
Roosevelt  after  having  had  one  term  of  him;  and 
the  jocular  reply  given  was  the  classic  phrase,  - 
taken,  I  think,  from  Disraeli  in  alluding  to  the  man 
who  had  married  again  after  an  unfortunate  early 
matrimonial  experience,  —  'Because  they  consulted 
hope,  rather  than  experience.'  Mr.  Roosevelt  told 
me  the  next  day  that  that  line  should  not  have  been 
said  at  a  Gridiron  Club  dinner ;  that  he  thought  that 
was  going  a  little  further  than  the  fitness  of  the 
office  and  occasion  justified.  Of  course  he  was 
right." 

It  is  pleasant,  in  this  chronicle  of  the  salient 
events  of  my  classmate's  life,  to  put  on  record,  at 
this  point,  a  few  reminders  of  the  friendly  rela 
tions  which  existed  between  him  and  Richard 
Olney.  Both  of  these  men  were  my  friends.  They 
were  of  rival  political  parties.  And  both  of  them 


248     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

were  cast  in  that  gladiatorial  mold  which  did  not 
easily  brook  opposition.  Both  were  ardent  de 
votees  of  wholesome  athletic  sports.  I  myself  have 
faced,  on  several  occasions,  Mr.  Olney's  minatory 
countenance  across  the  tennis  court. 

Yet  these  men  were  essentially  large  men,  and 
even  though  formally  opponents  at  times,  they 
maintained  a  mutual  respect  which  was  creditable 
to  them,  and  now  is  pleasant  to  contemplate. 

When  Roosevelt  was  Commissioner  of  Police, 
in  New  York,  he  wrote  Mr.  Olney,  congratulating 
him  on  his  appointment  as  Secretary  of  State. 
And  his  letter  closes  with  a  line  of  characteristic 
buoyancy,  "I  suppose  you  still  play  tennis.  I 
have  been  so  busy  here  that  I  have  not  had  time 
to  play  anything  except  Hades  with  the  police." 
This  last  eschatological  allusion  does  not  imply  any 
sudden  leaning  toward  studies  in  divinity. 

In  1901,  when  Roosevelt's  accession  to  the  presi 
dential  chair  had  come,  Mr.  Olney  wrote  with  in 
formality  and  warmth: 

"My  dear  Roosevelt:  I  am  writing  you,  not  as 
you  are,  President,  but  as  a  friend,  whom  I  value 
and  in  whose  fortunes  I  am  much  interested.  I 
congratulate  you.  .  .  .  You  come  to  the  Presi 
dency  with  health  and  strength  which  few  can 
boast,  with  talents  of  a  high  order,  disciplined  and 
developed,  and  with  a  prestige  and  hold  upon  the 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  24<9 

admiration  and  affection  of  the  people  at  large, 
without  regard  to  party  lines,  such  as  no  other  man 
in  public  life  to-day  enjoys.  .  .  .  That  your  aims 
are  of  the  highest  I  need  no  assurance.  The 
highest  measure  of  success,  therefore,  should  attend 
your  efforts.  And  that  the  event  may  justify 
the  fortunate  beginnings  is  my  cordial  wish." 

To  this  friendly  letter  Roosevelt  replied,  "I  am 
tempted  to  say  that  no  letter  has  pleased  me  more 
than  yours.  It  gratified  me  exactly  as  President 
Cleveland's  cordial  greetings  did.  I  thank  you  for 
it  and  I  appreciate  it.  I  need  not  tell  you  that  I 
realize  fully  the  burdens  placed  upon  me.  All  that 
in  me  lies  to  do  will  be  done.  I  want  you  to  know 
that  my  purpose  is  entirely  single.  I  want  to  make 
a  good  President,  and  follow  those'  policies  which 
shall  be  for  the  good  of  the  whole  people ;  all  party 
considerations  will  be  absolutely  secondary." 

Out  of  the  many  struggles  and  contests  of  Presi 
dent  Roosevelt's  vigorous  four  years  in  the  White 
House  the  "Brownsville  Affair"  of  1906  draws  my 
attention,  not  so  much  because  of  any  vital  impor 
tance  attaching  to  it,  but  because  I  have  been  so 
long  and  so  deeply  interested  in  the  "Negro 
Problem"  of  our  country  and  have  been  intimate 
with  the  great  leaders  of  that  race.  The  bare  facts 
are  these.  During  the  night  of  August  13,  ten 
or  twenty  negro  soldiers,  regulars,  of  the  25th 


250     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

U.  S.  Infantry,  stationed  near  Brownsville,  Texas, 
stole  out  from  their  barracks  and  terrorized  the 
town,  shooting  into  houses  and  shops,  and  killing 
at  least  one  man  and  wounding  several. 

The  affair  was  grossly  a  violation  of  military 
rules  and  civil  law.  The  negro  companies  had  been 
treated  with  much  contempt  and  insult  by  many 
inhabitants  of  the  town.  But  the  outbreak  was 
inexcusable,  deplorable,  and  criminal.  And  the 
whole  nation  was  roused  to  an  excited  interest  in 
the  bare  little  frontier  town. 

At  once  the  officers  of  the  garrison  took  up  the 
matter  and  the  War  Department  at  Washington 
backed  them  zealously.  Investigation  began. 
Proof  was  conclusive  that  the  "shooting  up"  had 
been  done  by  regular  soldiers  with  United  States 
rifles.  But  not  one  of  the  culprits  could  be  dis 
covered  or  led  to  confess.  The  examination  of  a 
large  number  of  suspects  was  most  thorough,  but 
vain.  A  prominent  negro  of  the  South,  an  edu 
cated  and  admirable  man,  afterward  pointed  out  to 
me  the  futility  of  the  methods  used  in  that  trial 
and  examination.  Said  he,  "Picture  to  yourself 
a  negro  soldier,  summoned  before  a  board  of  white 
officers,  the  chairman  of  that  board  being  a  South 
ern  Major  or  Colonel,  and  picture  the  countenance 
of  that  terrified  and  perhaps  guilty  soldier,  as  he 
meets  the  stern  questions  shot  at  him  like  bullets." 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  251 

I  could  easily  picture  what  he  suggested.  For 
I  knew  well  the  stolid,  impervious,  self -protective 
stupidity  with  which  the  average  negro  in  the 
South  can  mask  his  naturally  mobile  features 
under  such  conditions.  The  clam,  with  tightly 
closed  lids,  is  vivacious  and  voluble  in  comparison 
with  him.  And  that  armor  of  stolidity  worn  by 
the  Brownsville  soldiers  could  not  be  broken 
through  by  the  protracted  attacks  of  the  South-led 
military  board.  The  examination  proved  futile. 

I  asked  my  negro  friend — who  was  as  regretful 
and  angry  at  the  lawless  revolt  as  was  I — what 
would  have  been  the  wiser  course  of  investigation, 
and  he  replied  with  a  smile,  "An  unknown  negro 
detective,  say  from  New  York,  thrown  into  that 
camp  and  mingling  with  the  soldiers,  would  have 
had  the  secret  out  of  them  in  twenty-four  hours.'1 

So  the  investigation  was  blocked  and  it  failed. 
But  Theodore  Roosevelt,  immensely  concerned 
always  for  obedience  to  rightful  laws,  civil  or  mili 
tary,  was  not  the  man  to  confess  defeat  as  the 
chagrined  official  board  confessed  defeat.  Some 
thing  must  be  done.  And  he  did  it.  He  imposed 
dishonorable  discharges  from  the  service  upon 
nearly  the  whole  three  companies  involved.  Some 
individuals  had  committed  the  nefarious  crime  and 
all  had  connived  at  it  and  concealed  it.  So  he  im- 


252     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

posed  a  "blanket"  discharge  on  a  large,  inclusive 
group. 

Vast  excitement  ensued.  The  matter  was 
warmly  discussed  in  Congress  and  throughout  the 
entire  country,  among  whites  and  blacks.  All 
kinds  of  motives  were  discerned  in  the  President's 
peremptory  action  by  friends  and  foes,  both  of 
the  President  and  of  the  negro  race.  I  myself 
knew,  within  a  month  after  the  event,  that  negro 
soldiers  were  the  guilty  men.  Yet  the  opposite 
opinion  was  held  by  both  white  and  black  men 
until  more  than  a  year  afterward,  so  involved  was 
the  tangle  and  so  complete  was  the  conspiracy  of 
silence  among  the  men  under  suspicion. 

It  was  not  a  colored  problem,  that  Brownsville 
affair;  it  was  a  military  problem  of  morale,  and 
it  was  exceedingly  perplexing.  And  only  Roose 
velt's  instinctive,  phenomenal  self-reliance,  courage 
—  yes,  and  faith  —  carried  him  through  it  with  suc 
cess.  Looking  back  through  the  misty  past,  I  do 
not  see,  among  our  honored  Chief  Executives,  any 
who  would  have  "carried  on"  as  did  Roosevelt, 
until  I  reach  back  to  our  great  Abraham  Lincoln; 
and  even  he  might  not  have  solved  so  peculiar  a 
problem  so  creditably. 

Here  is  a  delightful  little  incident,  as  reported 
by  Joseph  Bishop.  "I  was  stationed  in  Washing 
ton  at  this  time,"  he  narrates,  "and  when  talking 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  253 

with  the  President  one  morning,  I  made  reference 
to  the  Brownsville  debate  in  the  Senate.  'Oh,  that 
is  merely  the  latest  log  going  down  the  stream/ 
was  his  amused  comment.  When,  a  little  later, 
there  appeared  in  the  Century  Magazine,  an  ex 
cellent  article  by  Roosevelt  on  'The  Ancient  Irish 
Sagas',  I  asked  the  President  how  he  found  time 
for  such  research  as  this  article  showed.  His  char 
acteristic  reply  was,  'I  have  always  been  interested 
in  that  subject.  And  when  this  Brownsville  row 
started  in  the  Senate,  I  knew  it  would  be  long  and 
might  be  irritating  to  me  if  I  followed  it.  So  I 
shut  myself  up,  paid  no  heed  to  the  row,  and 
wrote  this  article  on  the  Sagas/ ' 

Such  a  sane,  sensible  thing  for  a  man  to  do,  that 
was.  Peculiarly  so  for  a  man  who  knew  his  own 
natural  excitability  and  impatience  over  slow,  red- 
tape  methods.  Then,  beyond  that,  Mr.  Bishop's 
incident  reminds  me  of  what  that  intimate  member 
of  the  Roosevelt  family,  Doctor  Lambert,  said  to 
me  one  day,  in  the  New  York  Harvard  Club. 
"Roosevelt  was  a  tremendously  and  continuously 
active  man.  He  was  always  doing  some  definite 
thing.  Most  men  can  lounge,  at  times,  and  pipe- 
dream,  in  a  comfortable  half-asleep  way.  But 
Roosevelt  never  had  such  moods,  probably  did  not 
allow  himself  to  have  them.  He  was  either  fully 


254     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

awake,  at  work  or  recreation,  or  he  was  fully 
asleep.  No  time  was  wasted  by  him." 

And  Arthur  Woods  has  told  me  about  a  hurried 
visit  which  he  made  to  the  White  House,  when  he 
was  Police  Commissioner  of  New  York.  Some 
thing  in  the  restless  metropolis  needed  a  strong 
hand  of  control,  and  that  hand  was  in  the  White 
House.  Mr.  Woods  telegraphed  ahead,  made  an 
appointment,  and  in  due  time  took  a  seat  in  the 
waiting  line  before  the  President's  closed  door. 
Soon  the  President  came  to  the  door  and  beckoned 
to  him.  As  he  did  this  he  was  reading  from  some 
sheets  of  writing  paper.  "And,"  said  Mr.  Woods, 
"after  hastily  greeting  me,  he  read  busily  all  the 
way  along  the  hall  and  to  his  desk,  evidently  com 
pleting  his  examination,  as  he  seated  himself." 
There  was  little  time  wasted  by  him,  when  at  work 
or  at  play.  But  how  he  recuperated  from  this  in 
cessant  expenditure  of  energy,  —  that  is  the  mys 
tery  of  his  remarkable  personality. 

The  sophisticated  world  does  not  much  care  to 
hear  or  read  a  man's  estimate  of  his  own  record. 
Yet,  in  Roosevelt's  case,  such  was  his  stern, 
equitable  appraisal  of  himself,  when  in  his  calm 
moods,  that  we  may  really  listen  to  him,  as  he  re 
views  his  achievements  somewhat  in  his  gradation 
of  their  value,  in  a  letter  of  December,  1908,  to  a 
friend  in  London.  In  condensed  form  his  resume 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  255 

reads  thus:  "During  my  term  as  President  I  have 
more  than  doubled  the  navy  of  the  United  States, 
and  our  battle-fleet  is  to-day  doing  what  no  other 
fleet  of  a  similar  size  has  ever  done,  —  circumnavi 
gating  the  globe."  From  my  own  experience  as  a 
traveler  who  has  visited  ports  in  nearly  all  the 
leading  countries  of  the  world,  I  see  the  wisdom 
of  that  enterprise.  Roosevelt  knew,  as  every 
traveler  knows,  that  our  standing  as  a  nation,  in 
the  eyes  of  other  nations,  is  largely  determined  by 
impressions  caused  by  our  naval  equipment,  as  seen 
in  foreign  ports.  That  tour  of  the  world  by  our 
fleet  was  good  strategy,  a  kind  of  bloodless  frontal 
attack,  a  peaceful  preparedness,  which  I  believe 
was  extremely  effective. 

Next,  Roosevelt  named  to  his  London  friend,  in 
that  list  of  pleasant  memories,  the  Panama  Canal. 
Then  the  Peace  Conference  at  Portsmouth,  prac 
tically  ending  the  Russian-Japanese  War.  Then 
the  Pennsylvania  coal  strike.  Next,  he  mentioned 
the  Forest  Reserves,  saying  simply,  "I  have  dou 
bled  or  quadrupled  them,  throughout  the  country." 
This  was  a  policy  which  grew  inevitably  out  of  his 
love  of  the  fields  and  woods  and  the  beautiful  wild 
creatures  that  found  shelter  there.  After  naming 
these,  he  touches  briefly  upon  his  irrigation  of  the 
vast  arid  tracts  of  the  Far  West,  then  mentions 
the  pacifying  of  the  Philippines,  the  Santo  Do- 


256     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

mingo  Treaty,  the  Employers'  Liability  Law,  and 
a  score  more.  It  is  not  only  the  long  list  of  a  man 
who  was  tireless  in  his  endeavors  to  correct  errors, 
crush  evils,  and  make  the  country  he  loved  a  better 
place  to  dwell  in,  but  it  is  an  extremely  varied  list ; 
the  record  of  a  far  wider  range  of  interests  and 
activities  than  is  shown  by  any  previous  occupant 
of  the  White  House.  Personally,  I  rate  high  one 
item  not  set  down  in  my  classmate's  list — one  to 
which  I  have  previously  referred  —  the  moral  quick 
ening  which  he  imparted  to  the  young  men  of  this 
country.  By  his  words  and  deeds  he  made  public, 
official  service  more  respectable  and  desirable  than 
it  ever  had  been  in  our  country's  history.  And  that 
morale  created  by  him  is  still  with  us. 

These  records  are  but  the  cold,  bare  framework 
of  the  nation's  vast,  throbbing  body,  vigorous 
during  the  years  from  1901  to  1908.  And  behind 
them  I  seek  the  warm  personality  of  the  man.  It 
was  there,  —  that  unique,  tense,  brilliant  personal 
ity,  that  phenomenal  character,  with  as  many 
gleaming  facets  as  a  rose-diamond.  Indeed,  the 
explanation  of  the  secret  of  his  greatness  lies  in  his 
many-sidedness  coupled  with  tireless  energy.  He 
had  the  hundred  eager  hands  of  ancient  Briareus 
with  a  heart  of  energy  like  a  modern  hundred- 
horse-power  engine. 

His  official  life  is  serious,  stern,  as  preserved  in 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  257 

the  official  records.  But  his  buoyant,  lovable,  un 
official  life  comes  to  us  in  the  recitals  and  letters 
of  his  friends  and  fellow  workers.  It  was  an  easy 
prognostication,  as  he  and  Mrs.  Roosevelt  entered 
the  White  House,  —  that  they  would  transform  it  — 
gradually  or  abruptly — from  the  national  hostelry, 
which  it  had  too  often  resembled,  into  a  habitation 
of  refinement  and  a  center  of  friendliness  and  sym 
pathy,  yet  of  cultivation  and  the  highest  American 
social  standards.  And  it  may  be  tersely  and 
graphically  added  that  during  the  Roosevelt  re 
gime  the  hospitality  of  the  White  House,  while 
cordial,  genuine,  was  not  of  the  "shirt-sleeve" 
variety.  Mistakes  were  frequently  made  by  vis 
itors  to  the  Executive  Mansion,  similar  to  those 
frequently  made  by  boisterous,  rough-handed 
strangers  as  they  met  Roosevelt  for  the  first  time. 
They  mistook  social  freedom  for  social  anarchy. 
Roosevelt's  rule  for  his  home  was  the  same  as  for 
himself,  outside  it:  "Keep  in  touch  with  all  kinds 
of  people,  but  maintain  inner  standards  for  your 
self." 

All  qualities  and  strains  of  men  and  women  were 
received  by  the  President  and  his  charming,  dis 
cerning  wife.  Senators  and  Congressmen,  cattle 
men  and  ex-policemen,  college  mates  and  prize 
fighters.  On  one  occasion,  two  members  of  the 
"Class  of  '80"  dined  at  the  White  House  for  the 


258     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

first  time.  And  they  were  surprised  and  alarmed 
at  the  freedom  of  speech  which  their  eminent  class 
mate  allowed  himself.  When  a  certain  high  official 
was  mentioned,  Roosevelt  dismissed  him  with  the 
abrupt  declaration  —  and  in  no  subdued  voice,  be 
fore  the  table  attendants — "He's  a  chronic  liar. 
I  never  believe  anything  he  says."  And  of  another 
diplomat  he  declared,  "He's  no  better  than  a 
darned  skunk."  It  was  easy  to  understand  what 
he  said  and  meant  at  such  times.  And  my  two 
classmates  were  really  alarmed;  and  they  took 
solemn  counsel  together,  as  they  left  the  house,  as 
to  how  they  could  induce  "Theodore"  to  put  a 
bridle  on  his  tongue. 

Over  against  this  little  coterie  of  old-time 
friends,  as  guests,  put  some  of  his  beloved  Rough 
Riders.  For  all  kinds  were  invited.  What  fun  in 
him  it  was  when  he  suggested  solemnly,  as  he  was 
inviting  "Bill",  an  ex-sheriff  of  a  frontier  county, 
"Perhaps  you'd  better  not  bring  your  gun  to-night, 
Bill.  The  British  Ambassador  is  going  to  be  at 
the  dinner,  and  it  wouldn't  do  for  you  to  shoot 
around  his  feet  to  make  him  dance."  The  story 
runs  that  "Bill"  promised  solemnly  not  to  come 
"heeled",  and  added  that  even  if  he  had,  he  "would 
not  have  thought  of  doing  such  a  thing." 

At  about  this  time,  the  autumn  of  1907, 
Roosevelt,  always  eager  for  life  "in  the  open", 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  259 

made  a  hunting  trip  down  into  Mississippi.  His 
friend,  Doctor  Alexander  Lambert,  was  one  of 
the  party.  During  this  trip  Roosevelt  wrote  (and 
sketched)  several  of  the  charming  letters  to  his 
children  which  have  been  put  into  the  volume  edited 
by  Joseph  B.  Bishop.  Doctor  Lambert  has  given 
me  this  incident  of  the  trip ;  and  it  shows  how  wide- 
open  Theodore  Roosevelt's  eyes  had  now  become, 
through  experience  in  "ways  that  are  dark  and 
tricks  that  are  vain"  in  the  political  world.  Just 
as  the  party  was  starting  from  Washington,  sev 
eral  reporters  hurried  into  the  train,  stated  that 
a  report  was  circulating  to  the  effect  that  Messrs. 

H—     -  and  P of  New  York  were  combining 

on  some  important  deal.  They  asked  the  President 
to  talk  about  the  possibilities  and  probabilities  of 
such  a  merger.  But  all  that  Roosevelt  would  say 
was  this,  with  a  laugh,  "Wait,  now!  Wait!  I 
don't  really  know  anything  about  the  matter.  But 
as  soon  as  I  get  back,  in  a  week  or  so,  I  will  call 
together  about  fourteen  men  whom  I  have  in  mind, 
and  will  confer  with  them.  They  will  probably 
try  to  deceive  me;  but  out  of  all  their  talk  I  shall 
get  at  the  truth,  and  I  will  call  you  together  and 
tell  you  about  it." 

On  the  wall  of  the  study  or  office  or  parlor  of 
every  member  of  the  "Class  of  '80"  hangs  a  copy 
of  the  excellent  portrait  of  Roosevelt  by  the  emi- 


260     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

nent  American  artist,  Joseph  De  Camp.  This 
portrait  was  painted  in  the  autumn  of  1908,  in  the 
White  House.  The  painting  itself  now  hangs  on 
the  wall  of  the  Harvard  Union.  Its  story,  as  told 
me  by  De  Camp,  at  least  partly  in  the  painter's 
own  words,  runs  in  this  fashion. 

"Two  or  three  of  Roosevelt's  Harvard  class 
mates  came  to  me,  in  Boston,  and  told  me  that  a 
group  of  them  wished  a  portrait  of  their  famous 
friend  and  wished  me  to  do  it.  After  some  talk, 
I  agreed.  I  went  on  to  Washington  to  confer  with 
the  President.  On  my  way  I  met  a  friend  who 
warned  me,  after  learning  about  my  purpose, 
'Stand  right  up  to  Roosevelt  or  he'll  push  you  off 
the  earth.  If  you  do  stand  up  to  him,  you'll  like 
him.'  So  in  I  went.  I  kept  the  hour  and  minute 
appointed  by  Loeb,  his  secretary.  And  I  had  to 
wait  one  long  hour,  while  I  could  hear  him,  Roose 
velt,  in  the  adjoining  room,  discussing  saddles, 
bits,  guns,  clothing  and  all  the  equipment  for  his 
hunting  trip  into  Africa,  which  was  to  come  off  a 
few  months  later.  Presently  Roosevelt  walked  in 
and  we  shook  hands.  I  had  never  seen  him  before 
and  had  really  never  formed  any  positive  opinions 
about  him.  When  he  began  to  ask  questions 
about  the  sittings,  I  tried  to  answer  clearly  and 
definitely.  But  when  he  started  in  to  make  sug 
gestions,  I  could  not  long  stand  it.  And  I  said  to 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  261 

him,  'Mr.  President,  if  I'm  going  to  paint  this 
picture,  I've  got  to  do  it  in  my  way.  It  won't  be 
my  first  picture,  either.' 

"That  stopped  him  short.  He  looked  at  me 
anew,  for  a  moment,  then  put  out  his  hand  a  second 
time,  and  said  with  his  characteristic  smile,  'You 
seem  to  be  the  right  sort  of  American;  go  ahead.' 
From  that  moment  he  let  me  lead.  So  we  went 
ahead.  And  all  kinds  of  things  happened.  But 
let  me  summarize  just  here  and  say  that  I  soon 
saw,  from  noting  the  people  who  came  and  went 
as  I  worked,  that  this  man's  foundation  aim  was  to 
help  the  under  dog. 

"I  never  saw  a  man's  exit  expedited  so  skill 
fully  as  was  that  of  a  French  official  who  came 
in,  fully  uniformed  and  decorated,  to  bring  a  huge 
volume  containing  the  Personnel  of  the  French 
Navy,  for  use  by  an  ally,  the  United  States.  I 
saw  the  French  officer,  a  Captain  or  something 
high,  standing  near  the  door,  his  lips  moving,  and 
evidently  rehearsing  the  speech  in  English  which 
he  had  prepared.  When  the  right  moment  came, 
Roosevelt,  who  knew  the  man's  errand  and  did  not 
intend  to  waste  time,  went  quickly  over  to  him, 
seized  him  by  the  hand,  shook  it,  accepted  the  big 
book,  asked  one  or  two  questions,  did  not  wait  for 
replies,  and,  all  the  time,  with  a  smile,  yet  with  a 
hand  on  the  official's  gold-laced  arm,  was  gently 


262     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

but  firmly  pushing  him  towards,  and  then  finally 
through,  the  door.  It  was  a  good  piece  of  work. 
And  I  think  that  the  anxious  French  officer  was 
quite  as  glad  to  have  the  interview  thus  ended  as 
was  the  President. 

"Roosevelt  was  a  great  man,"  continued  De 
Camp,  "with  that  simplicity  of  address  which  so 
often  is  seen  in  really  great  men.  And  he  did  hate 
servility  and  enjoy  a  man  or  woman  who  stood  up 
to  him.  To  illustrate :  He  had  agreed  to  give  me 
an  hour's  sitting,  each  time.  This  he  did,  faithfully 
though  impatiently,  several  times.  Then  he  got 
into  the  way  of  cutting  the  sitting  a  bit  short  by 
saying,  in  his  most  winning  manner,  'Now,  De 
Camp,  let's  go  out  and  take  a  little  walk  in  the 
garden.'  And  out  I  went  with  him,  two  or  three 
times.  But  one  day  I  held  him  up.  I  said,  without 
shading  it,  'Mr.  President,  you  talk  about  a  square 
deal,  but  you're  not  giving  me  that.'  'What  do 
you  mean?'  he  demanded  sharply,  but  not  angrily. 
'This.  You  agreed  to  sit  for  an  hour,  each  time, 
and  you're  cutting  me  out  of  it.'  He  took  it  as  I 
thought  he  would.  He  looked  repentant  and  re 
plied,  'Well,  I'll  do  better,  after  this.  I  see  your 
side  of  it.' 

"At  another  time,"  continued  the  artist,  "I  was 
one  of  a  dinner  party  at  the  White  House.  One 
of  the  guests,  Mr.  N ,  a  Yankeefied  individual 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  263 

with  a  shrill  voice,  asked  me  how  the  President 
was  doing,  as  a  model,  as  a  sitter.  And  I  replied, 
'He's  a  rotten  sitter.  That's  the  whole  of  it.' 
What  was  my  alarm,  a  few  minutes  later,  to  hear 
this  fellow's  shrill  voice  retailing  my  conversation 
to  the  President  himself.  Later  Roosevelt  made 
his  way  to  me  and  remarked,  'What's  this  I  hear? 
Mr.  N—  —  tells  me  that  you  said  I  was  a  rotten 
model.'  Of  course  I  was  a  bit  uneasy,  but  I  knew 
my  man  and  I  put  the  thing  through.  I  re 
sponded,  'Yes,  I  did  say  that.  And  I  would  have 
put  it  even  stronger  if  I  had  known  how.  You're 
on  the  jump,  every  minute  you  are  posing.'  He 
was  positively  delighted.  He  smiled,  then  his  face 
grew  thoughtful  and  determined,  and  he  said, 
'Wait  until  to-morrow's  sitting!  I'll  fool  you.' 
And  he  did,  to  a  certain  extent  only,  however,  for 
I  knew  what  was  coming  —  he  stood  like  a  carved 
statue.  He  was  putting  his  will  into  it." 

One  of  my  friends,  who  several  times  was  a  guest 
at  the  White  House,  has  tried  to  make  me  believe 
that  Roosevelt  did  not  mind  in  the  least  the  ridicule 
and  abuse  and  falsifying  of  the  newspapers,  and 
that  he  often  read  aloud,  with  laughter,  malicious 
attacks  made  upon  him  in  their  columns.  This 
statement  may  hold  true  about  my  classmate  when 
he  was  in  the  bosom  of  his  family.  But  it  does  not 
harmonize  wholly  with  what  De  Camp  narrated. 


264     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

"One  day,"  said  the  painter,  "as  he  was  standing 
in  position,  his  Secretary  came  in  and  put  some 
press  clippings  into  his  hands.  He  read  them,  as 
he  always  read,  with  lightning  rapidity.  Suddenly 
and  angrily  he  stopped,  crushing  the  slips  in  his 
hand,  and  poured  out  a  stream  of  the  strongest 
language  that  I  ever  heard.  He  went  on  for  a 
few  seconds  thus,  consigning  a  certain  New  York 
journal  to  various  Dantean  regions.  Then  his 
wonderful  sense  of  humor  came  to  the  surface.  He 
smiled,  and  said  to  me,  'De  Camp,  if  you  know 
any  stronger  language  than  I've  used,  will  you 
please  take  up  the  subject  where  I  left  off?'  I 
replied,  in  spirit  as  in  letter,  and  rolled  out  some 
phrases  in  German,  in  French  and  in  Italian.  He 
said,  'Thanks!  I  feel  relieved.  I  wish  I  could  use 
those  myself.' ' 

Mr.  De  Camp  continued,  "With  all  its  cares 
and  struggles,  Roosevelt  would  have  been  glad  to 
continue  his  term  in  the  White  House.  I  said  to 
him  one  day,  'You  have  done  many  things,  Mr. 
President.  Among  others  you  have  got  the  heads 
of  the  common  people  above  water.  They  realize, 
as  never  before,  their  power  and  their  responsibili 
ties.'  This  I  said  as  I  worked,  and  he  broke  out 
in  rejoinder,  eagerly,  almost  fiercely,  with  all  his 
spirit  and  passion,  'I'd  like  to  stay  at  this  post  an 
other  four  years,  and  I'd  have  them  out,  not  only 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  265 

their  heads,  but  up  to  their  waists.'  Such  a  doer 
of  deeds  he  was.  One  day  he  said  to  me,  'I  hate 
a  man  who  never  does  anything.  Why,  I'd  rather 
do  something  and  get  it  wrong,  and  then  apologize, 
than  to  do  nothing.' ' 

One  day,  as  the  sitting  was  on,  a  stenographer 
came  in,  and  Roosevelt  began  to  dictate  to  her. 
He  grew  very  absorbed  in  this,  and  the  sitting  was 
becoming  a  failure.  "Presently,"  Mr.  De  Camp 
told  me,  "I  stopped  work  and  waited  and  looked 
significantly  at  my  model.  With  a  laugh  he  ceased, 
waved  the  stenographer  away,  and  explained, 
'That  is  an  address  which  I  have  promised  to  give 
at  the  Sorbonne,  in  Paris,  when  I  return  from  my 
trip  to  Africa."'  So  much  for  Roosevelt's  fore- 
handedness  or  "preparedness"  or  thoroughness, 
whichever  word  you  prefer.  Ferbum  sat. 

Vigorous,  strenuous  as  was  President  Roose 
velt's  official  public  life,  his  private  family  life  was 
almost  on  a  par  with  it.  He  spoke  from  his  heart 
when  he  wrote,  "I  have  had  the  happiest  home  life 
of  any  man  I  have  ever  known."  And  this  was 
not  alone  because  of  his  loving,  sympathetic  heart, 
but  as  much  because  of  his  intelligent  observance 
of  the  psychological  laws  that  govern  all  human 
groups,  even  families. 

He  shared  so  many  emotions  and  experiences 
with  the  family.  He  took  a  deep  interest  in  all  the 


£66     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

pets  of  all  the  children,  —  and  no  family  ever  gath 
ered  in  more  pets  than  the  Roosevelt  family. 
Doctor  Iglehart  writes: 

"I  saw  the  President  come  down  the  main  stair 
way,  at  the  White  House,  to  greet  a  distinguished 
guest,  an  Archbishop.  A  pet  dog  had  just  been 
brought  from  Oyster  Bay  and  had  not  yet  seen 
Roosevelt.  At  that  moment  they  met.  And  the 
joy  of  the  little  pet  was  overwhelming.  And  Mr. 
Roosevelt  went  right  down  on  the  floor  to  greet 
him,  while  the  stately  Archbishop  stood  silently 
looking  on,  ten  feet  away.  In  ten  seconds  Mr. 
Roosevelt  was  on  his  feet  again,  serious,  dignified, 
ready  to  talk  with  the  Archbishop,  who,  being  a 
real  man  of  heart,  was  immensely  pleased  with  the 
incident." 

A  portion  of  a  letter  from  Doctor  David  Starr 
Jordan  I  give  here;  for  it  reveals  the  wide  range 
of  Roosevelt's  interests,  even  amid  his  crowded 
presidential  days. 

"Roosevelt  entered  Harvard  College  hoping  to 
become  a  naturalist,  having  already  made  a  con 
siderable  collection  of  birds,  besides  many  observa 
tions  as  to  their  habits.  His  eyesight  being  defec 
tive,  however,  and  not  connecting  well  with  mag 
nifying  glasses,  his  early  ambition  was  discouraged 
by  his  teachers,  to  whom  the  chief  range  of  study 
lay  within  the  field  of  the  microscope.  They  over- 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  267 

looked  the  fact  that  besides  primordial  slime  and 
determinant  chromosomes,  there  were  also  in  the 
world  grizzly  bears,  tigers,  elephants,  and  trout, 
as  well  as  song-birds  and  rattlesnakes  —  all  of 
which  yield  profound  interest  and  are  alike  worthy 
of  study. 

"So,  being  discouraged  as  to  work  along  his 
chosen  line,  and  in  his  love  of  outdoor  science,  the 
young  naturalist  turned  to  political  philosophy,  his 
secondary  interests  lying  in  history  and  politics. 
He  then  closed  up  his  private  cabinet,  giving  his 
stuffed  bird-skins  (through  Professor  Baird,  of 
the  Smithsonian)  to  me.  These  I  transferred  to 
the  University  of  Indiana,  where  they  are  now  in 
a  befitting  glass  case  in  Owen  Hall,  each  skin 
nicely  prepared  and  correctly  labelled  in  the  crude 
boyish  handwriting  which  the  distinguished  collec 
tor  never  outgrew. 

"In  the  various  natural  history  explorations  un 
dertaken  by  me  —  and  by  others  during  Mr.  Roose 
velt's  administration  —  we  could  always  count  on 
intelligent  and  effective  sympathy.  In  so  far  as 
scientific  appointments  rested  with  him,  he  gave 
them  careful  and  conscientious  consideration.  In 
deed,  during  his  administration,  governmental 
science  reached  its  high-water  mark." 

All  kinds  of  pets  the  nature-loving  Roosevelts 
had.  In  the  Autobiography  may  be  read  this  rather 


268    ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

novel  incident.  "I  was  talking,  one  day,  with  a 
Senator,  about  the  Railroad  Rate  Bill.  My 
youngest  boy  had  just  been  loaned  a  beautiful 
king-snake,  by  the  admired  proprietor  of  an  animal 
shop,  not  far  from  us.  The  boy  came  rushing  in, 
to  exhibit  his  treasure,  which  he  had  placed  inside 
his  coat.  As  he  struggled,  eagerly,  to  get  off  his 
coat,  the  Senator  started  to  help  him,  but  sprang 
back  in  alarm  as  the  boy  and  the  snake  popped 
out  together,  from  the  garment." 

Well  he  knew  how  keenly  the  normal  child  loves 
animals.  And  when  he  writes  home,  his  tactful 
sympathetic  pen  throws  this  off.  "Dear  Quenty- 
Quee,  —  The  other  day,  when  out  riding,  what 
should  I  see,  in  the  road,  but  a  real  B'rer  Terra 
pin  and  B'rer  Rabbit.  They  were  sitting  sol 
emnly  beside  each  other,  and  looked  as  if  they 
had  come  out  of  a  book.  But  as  I  rode  nearer, 
B'rer  Rabbit  went  lippity  lippity  off  into  the 
bushes,  and  B'rer  Terrapin  drew  in  his  head  and 
legs,  till  I  passed." 

To  one  of  the  older  boys  he  writes,  and  again 
from  the  White  House:  "I  am  glad  I  have  tried 
this  Japanese  wrestling,  but  I  am  really  too  busy  to 
keep  on  with  it.  After  I  have  'been  grappling  with 
Senators  and  Congressmen  all  day,  by  five  o'clock 
I  feel  like  a  stewed  owl.  Then  the  wrestling  seems 
a  bit  too  strenuous.  My  right  ankle  and  my  left 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  269 

wrist,  and  one  thumb  and  both  great  toes  are 
swollen  and  I  carry  several  bruises.  Still,  I  have 
made  good  progress ;  and,  since  you  left,  they  have 
taught  me  three  new  throws  that  are  perfect 
corkers." 

If  the  "Man  from  Mars"  had  picked  up  that 
letter,  he  would  not  have  surmised  that  it  came 
from  the  President  of  the  United  States.  His 
lifelong  interest  in  "the  manly  art"  gave  especial 
point  to  an  incident  which  occurred  after  he  had 
returned  to  private  life.  He  and  Mrs.  Roosevelt 
were  in  a  railway  station,  and  Mrs.  Roosevelt  was 
having  some  difficulty  about  her  ticket.  At  that 
moment  a  fine-looking  man  came  up  and  asked  if 
he  could  help.  He  said  further  that  he  had  been 
one  of  the  crew  of  the  presidential  yacht,  the  May- 
flower.  In  reply  to  Roosevelt's  friendly  inquiry, 
he  stated  that  he  had  left  the  navy  in  order  to 
study  dentistry;  and  "in  order  to  earn  money  for 
his  tuition  in  his  studies,  he  was  practising  his  real 
profession  as  a  prize-fighter."  That  amused  Roose 
velt  vastly. 

Roosevelt's  athletic  exercises  —  kept  up,  in  large 
measure,  to  give  physical  support  to  his  strenuous 
mental  life  —  were  of  the  most  vigorous  sort.  Box 
ing,  wrestling,  riding,  long  cross-country  "hikes", 
—  these  he  kept  up,  with  that  steadfastness  charac 
teristic  of  him,  until  late  in  his  life.  He  was  never 


270     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

—  as  he  often  said  frankly  —  a  first-rate  horseman, 
but  he  was  no  neophyte.  A  story  told  by  George 
von  L.  Meyer,  then  Postmaster  General,  and  given 
by  De  Wolfe  Howe,  in  his  excellent  biography  of 
Meyer,  runs  thus: 

"May  11,  1907,  I  rode  with  the  President,  Root, 
and  Lodge.  The  President  put  his  horse  over  a 
three-foot  stone  wall  and  a  four-foot  hurdle.  My 
horse  was  in  good  form,  and  was  carrying  thirty 
pounds  less  than  the  President's.  I,  unthinkingly, 
put  my  horse  over  the  five-foot  jump;  and  at  once 
the  President  put  his  horse  at  it.  The  horse  re 
fused,  but  his  rider  set  his  teeth  and  put  him  at  it 
again.  He  cleared  it,  but  barely.  Lodge  was 
amazed  that  the  President,  with  his  weight  and 
mount,  had  taken  such  a.  risk,  and  I  was  sorry  that 
I  had  set  the  example.  The  President  remarked, 
'I  could  not  let  one  of  my  Cabinet  give  me  a  lead 
and  not  follow.' ' 

In  Rear  Admiral  Fiske's  Autobiography, 
"From  Midshipman  to  Rear  Admiral",  I  find  this 
unsought  testimonial  to  the  serious,  painstaking, 
open-minded  man  in  the  White  House  in  1907: 

"Roosevelt,  when  President,  aided  me  greatly  in 
bringing  my  marine  projects  and  inventions  into 
use,  when  other  officials  at  Washington  were  nar 
row-minded  and  gave  me  no  assistance.  President 
Roosevelt  took  his  duties  as  Commander-in-Chief 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  271 

of  the  Army  and  Navy  more  seriously  than  any 
other  President  except  George  Washington." 

It  is  pleasant  to  read  this  earnest,  disinterested 
testimony  to  Roosevelt's  official  devotion  to  his 
work  as,  for  instance,  in  contrast  we  get  this  light 
bit  of  repartee.  Carl  Akeley  told  one  day  about 
seeing  sixteen  lions  filing  slowly  out  of  one  cave. 
The  President's  eye  twinkled.  "By  George,"  he 
exclaimed,  "I  wish  I  could  turn  those  lions  loose  in 
Congress."  A  Congressman  present  interposed, 
"But,  Mr.  President,  aren't  you  afraid  they  might 
make  a  mistake?" 

Roosevelt  snapped  his  teeth  together,  and  his 
smile  widened.  "Not  if  they  stayed  long  enough," 
he  rejoined. 

It  was  in  the  full  tide  of  his  crowded,  active 
"elected"  term,  in  1905,  that  he  joined  his  college 
classmates  in  Cambridge  for  the  celebration  of  the 
twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  graduation  of  the 
Class  of  '80.  As  all  graduates  of  Harvard  know, 
the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  is  the  bright  particular 
milestone  along  the  post-graduate  highway  which 
is  held  in  highest  favor.  On  that  anniversary  a 
class  is  given  especial  honor;  and  all  its  members, 
wherever  they  may  be  scattered  over  the  face  of 
the  earth,  seek  to  return  to  Cambridge  and  clasp 
hands  and  compare  notes  de  voyage,  and  persuade 
themselves  that  they  are  still  young  men. 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

The  celebration  of  our  twenty-fifth  anniversary 
began  with  a  reunion  and  registration  at  the 
Parker  House,  Boston,  on  Monday,  June  26.  In 
the  evening  came  the  "Pop"  concert  in  Symphony 
Hall,  with  decorations,  cheers  for  '80,  and  songs  of 
the  olden  time  and  the  new.  At  noon,  members 
of  the  class  gathered  at  the  Oakley  Clubhouse, 
Watertown,  where  Roosevelt  came  in  due  time,  be 
tween  showers,  for  it  was  a  day  of  broken  weather. 
We  found  him  the  same  vigorous,  sympathetic 
friend  he  had  always  been.  He  was  really  glad  to 
have  the  members  of  his  college  class  around  him. 

Presently  the  inevitable  group  picture  was 
taken.  A  copy  of  it  hangs  on  the  wall  in  front  of 
my  desk  as  I  write.  Roosevelt,  of  course,  is  in  the 
center,  his  stern,  determined  countenance  seeming 
like  the  fixed  iron  core  of  a  wheel  about  which  the 
fellow  members  of  his  class  might  circle.  At  his 
right  sits  —  as  I  look  at  the  picture  —  Robert 
Bacon,  with  figure  and  face  noble  and  beautiful  to 
look  upon,  and  with  an  indwelling  spirit  of  equal 
nobility  and  beauty.  On  Roosevelt's  left  sits  our 
Class  Secretary,  John  Woodbury,  faithful,  untir 
ing,  loyal  to  his  classmates  and  beloved  of  them  all. 

As  I  look  at  this  group  of  men  —  my  friends, 
with  whom  I  share  tender  memories  of  an  olden 
time  —  I  think  them  worthy  representatives  of 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  273 

"Old  Harvard"  and  a  fitting  guard  of  honor  for 
the  man  who  sits  at  their  center. 

It  is  only  a  shred  of  a  sentiment  but,  as  I  look  at 
the  picture,  I  note  that  in  the  foreground,  a  few 
feet  in  front  of  our  first  line,  stands  a  sundial. 
Symbol  and  reminder  of  the  passing  of  the  days, 
the  flight  of  the  fugitive  years. 

One  of  my  classmates,  Louis  Greeley,  writes 
me,  recalling  our  gathering  at  the  Oakley  Club. 
"That  evening  I  heard  the  newsboys  in  Boston 
crying,  'Evening  papers,  picture  of  the  Class  of 
'80.'  I  bought  a  copy  and  found  only  a  picture 
of  Roosevelt.  I  expostulated  with  the  enterpris 
ing  newsboy,  and  he  replied,  'Roosevelt  is  the  class 
of  '80.'  And  I  did  not  seriously  object." 

The  one  other  meeting  which  brought  us,  as  a 
class,  distinctly  together,  during  that  Commence 
ment  Week,  was  the  dinner — strictly  a  Class  din 
ner —  at  the  Hotel  Somerset,  Boston,  in  the  evening 
of  Tuesday,  June  27.  It  was  an  enthusiastic 
meeting.  I  have  referred  to  it  in  earlier  pages  of 
this  volume.  Among  the  "events"  on  the  program 
was  the  presentation  of  three  silver  tankards,  by 
William  Hooper,  in  behalf  of  the  class,  to  Presi 
dent  Roosevelt,  "Bob"  Bacon,  and  John  Wood- 
bury. 

The  high  light  of  the  evening  was  furnished  by 
our  eminent  classmate,  who  talked  for  nearly  an 


274     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

hour,  in  his  fervid,  fearless  way,  about  affairs  of 
the  nation  and  his  attempts  to  set  things  right. 
There  were  members  present  who  were  newspaper 
men,  and  some  of  them  took  notes;  but  the  talk 
was  confidential  and  was  not  put  into  the  papers 
in  any  detail.  One  of  my  classmates  was  L.  E. 
Opdycke,  and  he,  with  a  memory  perhaps  sharp 
ened  by  his  good  work  in  the  Greek  Play  at  Cam 
bridge,  recalled  and  wrote  to  our  class  secretary, 
on  February  8,  1906,  six  months  afterward,  the 
exact  words  with  which  Roosevelt  began  his  fasci 
nating  address.  It  runs  thus: 

"Now  see  here,  fellows,  I  want  you  all  to  under 
stand,  in  the  first  place,  that  I  haven't  the  least 
idea  that  I'm  a  great  man.  It  is  true  that  I  have 
had  exceptional  success;  but  then  I've  had  excep 
tional  opportunities.  The  only  credit  that  I  can 
claim  is  for  having  been  there,  every  time,  to  take 
advantage  of  those  opportunities." 

Of  course  Roosevelt  could  not  "feel  great."  He 
simply  expressed  himself,  put  forth  his  powers, 
did  his  work,  and  his  fellows,  looking  on,  have  made 
the  decision  as  to  his  greatness. 

With  one  passage  from  Roosevelt's  address, 
made  in  Memorial  Hall  on  Wednesday,  June  29, 
I  close  this  chapter.  It  is  both  characteristic  and 
prophetic. 

"Our  presiding  officer,  Bishop  Lawrence,  has 


ELECTED  PRESIDENT  275 

spoken  of  my  efforts  for  peace.  Of  course  I  am 
for  peace.  Every  President  who  is  fit  to  be  Presi 
dent  is  for  peace.  But  I  am  for  one  thing  before 
peace.  I  am  for  righteousness  first,  and  then 
peace.  When,  in  '61,  certain  of  you  won  peace  by 
the  sword,  you  made  us  forever  your  debtors;  be 
cause,  when  the  choice  was  between  what  was 
peaceful  and  what  was  right,  you  chose  the  right." 
This  was  his  honest,  lofty  idealism.  And  he 
held  to  it  by  word  and  deed,  with  heroic  con 
sistency,  through  all  his  length  of  days. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

HIS  GREATEST  YICTORY 

One  of  the  solemn,  though  somewhat  vague  vows 
assumed  by  neophytes  in  sundry  religious  orders 
is  the  vow  to  "renounce  the  devil  and  all  his  works." 
This  pledge  would  be  easier  of  fulfillment  if  the 
diabolic  presence  and  efforts  were  always  easily 
distinguishable.  Cloven  hooves  and  forked  tail 
and  sulphurous  fumes  do  not  much  attract  us; 
but  when  money  or  a  palace  or  a  throne  —  or  the 
United  States  Presidency --beckons  alluringly 
then  the  renunciation  becomes  difficult. 

But  this  renunciation  is  what  Theodore  Roose 
velt  achieved.  He  renounced  a  reelection  to  an 
office  and  an  opportunity  which  he  desired  in 
tensely;  he  did  this  because  he  believed  that  it  was 
right  for  him  to  do  it.  The  Republican  Party 
leaders,  left  to  their  own  wishes,  were  not  only 
ready  to  place  William  Howard  Taft  in  the  White 
House,  but  they  would  have  been  glad  to  place 
anybody  there  rather  than  Roosevelt. 

This  was  fully  understood  by  Roosevelt,  Taft, 
and  the  party  leaders.  And  the  Convention  was 


HIS  GREATEST  VICTORY  277 

held  and  Taft  was  nominated.  Under  these  con 
ditions,  his  nomination  was  equivalent  to  an  elec 
tion.  But  I  wish  to  make  clear  what  has  been 
allowed  to  rest  obscured  or  neglected,  that  Theo 
dore  Roosevelt's  renunciation  of  a  second  "elected" 
term  marked  the  highest  moral  and  spiritual  level 
that  he  attained,  lofty  as  his  life  was  throughout. 

There  are  several  letters  given  in  Mr.  Bishop's 
collection  which  make  the  situation  perfectly  clear. 
One  to  Doctor  Lyman  Abbott,  on  May  29,  1908; 
one  to  Judge  Dayton,  on  May  28,  1908;  one  to 
Frank  H.  Hitchcock,  Chairman  of  the  Republican 
National  Committee,  on  June  1,  1908.  These  and 
other  published  letters  make  clear  the  fact  that 
Roosevelt  not  only  could  have  had  the  nomination, 
election,  and  Presidency  without  more  effort  than 
signifying  a  "Yes",  but  that  he  made  every  pos 
sible  effort  to  prevent  the  convention  from  forcing 
it  upon  him  as  the  Vice-presidency  had  been  forced 
upon  him. 

This  splendid  renunciation  of  a  scepter  of  power 
which  fairly  leaned  toward  his  now  trained  hand,  — 
this  I  conceive  to  mark  the  highest  point  morally, 
spiritually,  of  my  beloved  classmate's  greatness. 
A  negation  has  not  the  prestige  of  an  affirmation 
in  the  popular  mind;  but  this  in  form  only;  in  prac 
tice  it  often  rises  into  sublime  preeminence.  What 
would  Julius  Caesar,  or  Bonaparte,  or  Frederick 


278     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

the  Great  have  done,  if  in  Roosevelt's  place,  at  the 
end  of  one  glorious  term  and  with  another  term 
offering  itself?  No  answer  need  be  given.  And 
I  wonder  the  more  at  Roosevelt's  decision  when  I 
reflect  that  he,  of  all  men,  was  a  man  of  deeds ;  and 
for  him  to  deny  himself  the  dazzling  privilege  of 
a  continuance  of  his  patriotic  public  service,  —  that 
self-control,  that  self-denial  was  a  refutation  of 
all  those  charges  of  insatiate  ambition  ever 
launched  against  him  by  his  envious,  baffled,  un 
scrupulous  enemies. 

History  and  biography  furnish  no  situation 
equal  in  solemn  significance  to  Roosevelt's  stand, 
as  he  renounced  that  third  term.  If  ambition  is 
the  last  lingering  "infirmity  of  noble  minds",  then 
he  had  indeed  purged  himself  of  all  human  in 
firmities.  He  had  thoroughly  weighed  the  merits 
of  the  case.  His  extremely  frank  letters  to 
Trevelyan  show  this.  But  his  deeds  tallied  with 
his  words ;  his  will  and  conscience  backed  his  ideal 
istic  perceptions;  and  he  compelled  the  wish  and 
will  of  a  grateful,  admiring  nation  to  turn  toward 
William  Howard  Taft,  believing  this  course  to  be 
best  for  the  country. 

That  was  his  great  renunciation,  unparalleled 
in  all  the  past.  And  with  it  was  involved  a  smaller 
renunciation,  far  less  important,  yet  a  real  self- 
denialand  a  wise  self-restraint.  Denying  himself 


HIS  GREATEST  VICTORY  279 

the  pleasure  of  all  oversight  of  the  new  incoming 
regime,  he  planned  and  carried  out  his  trip  into 
Africa.  Outwardly  this  trip  was  only  one  of  his 
many  adventurous  excursions  into  the  wild  regions 
of  the  globe.  But  inwardly  there  was  in  his  large, 
generous  nature  the  wish  to  give  his  friend  and  suc 
cessor,  Mr.  Taft,  full  and  unconstrained  sweep  for 
the  exercise  of  his  new  executive  powers.  That 
was  always  Theodore  Roosevelt's  way  from  child 
hood,  through  college,  throughout  his  life, — always 
the  large,  generous  way. 

Roosevelt's  departure  from  American  shores 
brought  relief  to  several  groups  of  American  citi 
zens.  Among  them  were  the  "Interests",  so  called, 
that  is  the  powerful  "team-players"  of  high  finance. 
The  mot  went  the  rounds  of  the  press  at  this  time 
that  "Wall  Street  expected  every  lion  in  Africa 
to  do  his  duty." 

On  March  23,  1909,  Roosevelt  set  sail  from  New 
York  with  several  companions,  naturalists  and 
others,  and  a  complete  equipment  for  the  work  be 
fore  him.  The  work  was,  summarized,  the  procur 
ing  of  mammals,  birds,  plants  for  the  National 
Museum  at  Washington.  As  he  afterward  wrote, 
"Every  animal  I  have  shot,  except  six  or  eight  for 
food,  has  been  carefully  prepared  for  the  National 
Museum." 

In    a    reception    speech    made    in    Cambridge, 


280     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

England,  on  Roosevelt's  return  from  Africa, 
eleven  months  later,  Doctor  Henry  Goudy  put  his 
own  humorous  interpretation  on  the  ex-President's 
African  trip,  thus:  "He  is  a  statesman,  a  noted 
sportsman,  and  a  naturalist.  His  onslaughts  upon 
the  wild  beasts  of  the  desert  have  been  not  less 
fierce,  nor  less  successful,  than  his  warfare  on  the 
hydra-headed  corruption  in  his  own  land." 

And  Lord  Curzon  addressed  Roosevelt,  soon 
after,  in  a  more  rhetorical  but  equally  eulogistic 
way:  "Peer  of  the  most  august  kings,  queller  of 
wars,  destroyer  of  monsters  wherever  found,  yet 
the  most  human  of  mankind,  deeming  nothing 
uninteresting  to  you,  not  even  the  blackest  of  the 
black." 

On  the  whole,  that  was  what  Roosevelt  stood 
for  in  the  eyes  of  all  European  nations,  —  a  vigorous 
successful  reformer,  a  practical  idealist,  impelled 
by  a  burning  passion  to  make  his  native  land,  and 
indirectly  the  whole  world,  more  habitable,  more 
civilized,  because  more  just,  righteous,  and  humane. 

The  Roosevelt  party  followed  the  shortest  route 
possible :  across  the  Atlantic,  through  the  Mediter 
ranean  and  Suez  Canal  and  Red  Sea,  then  down 
the  coast  of  British  East  Africa  and  landed  at 
Mombasa.  Thence  by  rail  through  a  game  country 
where  wild  animals  were  so  abundant  that  had  it 
not  been  for  the  danger  involved  in  getting  the 


HIS  GREATEST  VICTORY 

more  savage  kinds,  the  shooting  would  have  been 
as  mock-heroic  as  that  of  Kaiser  Wilhelm,  with  his 
high  platform  and  the  helpless  beasts  driven  by 
as  to  an  abattoir. 

The  actual  shooting,  by  Roosevelt  and  his  son 
Kermit,  does  not  so  much  interest  me.  Suffice  it 
to  say  that  both  of  them  took  their  full  part  in 
the  duties,  joys,  hardships  and  veritable  dangers 
of  each  day. 

Reading  a  little  between  the  lines  of  the  reports 
of  the  several  members  of  that  expedition,  I 
gather  —  what  I  knew  before  —  that  my  classmate 
had  so  far  overcome  that  natural  timidity  against 
which  he  had  set  himself  in  earlier  years  that  he 
had  quite  forgotten  the  emotion ;  and  only  the  un 
ceasing  attention  of  Messrs.  Selous,  Cunningham, 
Tarlton,  and  others  kept  him  from  the  sharp  fangs 
of  the  lion  and  the  devastating  sweep  of  the  ele 
phant's  trunk. 

Extremely  interesting  are  the  bits  of  informa 
tion,  the  revealing  incidents,  which  come  to  us 
through  Roosevelt's  own  vivid  volume,  "African 
Game  Trails."  His  love  of  the  beautiful  was  not 
very  marked,  as  the  beautiful  is  set  forth  by  a 
painter's  brush.  But  Great  Nature  Herself,  with 
her  diapason  tones,  spoke  directly  to  his  soul. 
"There  are  no  words  that  can  tell  the  hidden  spirit 
of  the  wilderness,"  he  declares,  "that  can  reveal 


282     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

its  mystery,  its  melancholy,  and  its  charm.  Over 
and  beyond  the  thrill  of  the  fight  with  dangerous 
animals,  there  is  the  fascination  of  the  silent  places, 
the  large  tropic  moons,  the  splendor  of  the  new 
stars;  where  the  wanderer  sees  the  awful  glory  of 
sunrise  and  sunset,  in  the  wide  waste-spaces  of  the 
earth,  unworn  of  man,  and  changed  only  by  the 
slow  change  of  the  ages,  through  time  everlasting." 
Another  point  of  interest  which  the  book-lover 
naturally  feels  for  this  book-lover  hunter  is  the 
"pigskin  library"  which  he  carried  with  him,  and 
in  which  he  buried  himself  so  speedily,  when  on 
the  march  or  by  the  campfire,  and  even  instantly 
after  bringing  down  some  monster  elephant  or 
rhinoceros.  It  was  a  "working  library",  that  one 
of  the  pigskin  bindings.  Worn,  soiled,  the  volumes 
in  turn  were  stuffed  into  saddle  pocket  or  cartridge 
bag.  And  I  venture  the  suggestion  that  those 
books  increased  the  perils  of  their  versatile  owner 
—  though  not  to  a  fatal  ending  —  as  did  Shelley's 
books,  as  he  sailed  in  a  small  boat  along  the  Italian 
coast,  one  hand  holding  the  tiller,  the  other  a  book. 
The  poet  wrote  in  his  last  letter,  to  a  friend,  that  it 
was  a  mistake  to  say,  as  many  had  said,  that  a  man, 
while  sailing  a  boat,  could  do  nothing  else;  for  he 
had  demonstrated  that  a  man  could  read  and  sail  a 
boat  at  the  same  time.  That  was  poor,  unpractical 
Shelley's  own  obituary. 


HIS  GREATEST  VICTORY  283 

The  weeks  and  months  glided  quickly  away  as 
Roosevelt  explored  and  hunted  and  gathered  flora 
and  fauna  in  Africa.  Then  came  the  return  by 
way  of  Khartoum.  His  "Safari"  reached  that 
edge  of  civilization  on  March  14,  1910.  Thence 
directly  down  the  river  to  Cairo.  At  this  point 
something  happened  which  makes  us  feel  that  we 
have  again  the  real  Roosevelt,  not  the  khaki-clad 
hunter  of  big  game,  but  the  fearless  statesman  who 
dared  face  hostile  audiences  and  attacked  tyranny 
and  fraud  wherever  entrenched.  He  had  agreed 
to  give  an  address  to  a  body  of  Egyptian  students. 
They  comprised  the  body  of  the  so-called  "Nation 
alist  Party";  they  were  the  "Young  Egypt",  in 
protest  against  British  control;  and  only  a  month 
before  they  had  assassinated  the  Prime  Minister, 
Boutros  Pasha.  Warning  came  to  the  American 
ex-President  that  if  he  dared  refer  to  this  "re 
moval"  of  the  Prime  Minister,  his  own  life  would 
be  in  danger. 

Their  utter  ignorance  of  Roosevelt's  character, 
their  stupid  threat,  hinted  at  their  own  incompe 
tence  for  self-government.  Their  threat  only 
sharpened  Roosevelt's  interest  in  Egyptian  insur 
rectionary  affairs.  And  in  his  speech  he  dealt 
directly  and  vigorously  with  their  lawless,  violent 
conduct,  which  unfitted  them,  he  pointed  out,  for 


284     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

that  self-governing,  under  law  and  order,  which 
they  demanded. 

From  Cairo  to  Italy  and  up  through  the  several 
European  nations  which  he  visited  on  this  re 
turn  to  the  United  States,  his  journey  was  like 
the  "triumph"  of  a  victorious  Roman  general  of 
the  ancient  times.  It  far  surpassed,  in  the  en 
thusiasm  aroused,  the  "Grand  Tour"  of  ex-Presi 
dent  Grant.  He  did  not  need  disillusioning,  as  he 
met  kings  and  potentates ;  he  was  too  much  a  man 
of  the  world  for  that.  He  met  them  with  as  fine 
a  courtesy  as  their  own;  he  recognized  the  worth 
in  them  when  it  was  there;  and  hollowness  and 
pretence  gave  him  frequent  occasions  for  mirth. 

Almost  at  the  threshold  of  this  triumphal 
progress,  a  situation  developed,  a  problem  con 
fronted  him,  which  would  have  brought  many  a 
statesman  to  confusion.  I  refer  to  what  is  called 
"The  Vatican  Incident."  Briefly,  it  was  this. 
While  still  on  African  soil,  he  had  replied  to  an 
inquiry  made  by  Mr.  Leishman,  our  United  States 
ambassador  at  Rome,  that  he  would  be  glad  to 
meet  both  the  Pope  and  the  King.  When  he  ar 
rived  in  Rome,  a  message  from  the  Rector  of  the 
American  Catholic  College,  Monsignor  Kennedy, 
was  awaiting  him. 

"The  Holy  Father  will  be  delighted  to  grant 
audience  to  Mr.  Roosevelt,  and  hopes  that  nothing 


HIS  GREATEST  VICTORY  285 

will  arise  —  like  the  Fairbanks  incident  —  to  pre 
vent  it." 

The  "Fairbanks  incident"  was  the  visiting,  by 
ex-Vice-president  Fairbanks,  of  a  certain  Meth 
odist  mission  in  Rome.  Having  done  this,  the 
Vatican  was  closed  to  him. 

In  reply  to  the  warning  note,  with  its  reference 
to  Fairbanks,  Roosevelt  sent  this  letter  to  the  Pope, 
through  our  ambassador. 

"It  would  be  a  real  pleasure  to  me  to  be 
presented  to  the  Holy  Father.  ...  I  recognize  his 
full  right  to  receive  or  not  to  receive  whomsoever 
he  chooses.  .  .  .  On  the  other  hand,  I  have  the  right 
to  decline  to  make  any  stipulations  which  might 
limit  my  freedom  of  conduct.  I  trust  that  he  will 
find  it  convenient  to  receive  me." 

Roosevelt  thus  went  to  the  full  limit  of  conces 
sion  and  courtesy.  But  a  reply  came  the  next  day : 

"In  view  of  the  circumstances,  for  which  neither 
His  Holiness  nor  Mr.  Roosevelt  is  responsible,  an 
audience  could  not  occur,  except  on  the  under 
standing  expressed  in  the  former  message." 

Thus  the  visit  to  the  Vatican  was  not  made. 
Anybody  who  knew  the  personal  equation  of 
Theodore  Roosevelt  could  have  forecast  this  result, 
so  far  as  he  was  concerned.  For  the  Roman 
Pontiff  Roosevelt  had  very  kindly  feelings,  as  he 
had  also  for  many  of  his  adherents.  Probably  that 


286     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

kindly  old  prelate  had  very  little  to  do  with  the 
specious  scheme.  Merry  del  Val,  his  secretary, 
was  doubtless  the  moving  spirit  in  the  matter.  Of 
him  Roosevelt  said,  "He  is  a  polished  man,  of 
much  ability  in  a  narrow  line,  but  a  furiously 
bigoted  reactionary;  in  fact,  a  good  representative 
of  a  sixteenth-century  Spanish  ecclesiastic." 

This  "Vatican  incident"  gave  rise  to  large  head 
lines  in  the  newspaper  world,  for  a  short  time,  but 
all  intelligent  persons,  Protestant  or  Roman 
Catholic,  read  between  the  lines  and  deplored  the 
super-subtlety  of  the  Pope's  secretary.  The  world 
over,  men  knew  Roosevelt  so  well  that  they  were 
sure  his  action  meant  simply  that  he  would  not  be 
bound  by  any  religious  body  in  his  freedom  toward 
any  other  religious  body.  And  the  confidence  of 
the  Roman  Catholics  of  the  United  States  toward 
Roosevelt  remained  undisturbed.  I  myself  recall 
one  afternoon  at  Oyster  Bay,  when,  as  I  was  taking 
my  departure  after  an  hour  or  two  of  conversation, 
I  met  at  the  front  door  two  Roman  Catholic 
clergymen,  coming  with  smiling  confidence  to  call 
upon  Mr.  Roosevelt.  As  I  exchanged  a  greeting 
with  them,  after  I  had  left  my  host,  one  of  them 
pointed  toward  the  study  where  my  classmate  was 
waiting  and  whispered,  in  a  warm,  unconstrained 
way,  "A  real  man,  in  there!" 

Roosevelt    established    free,    friendly    relations 


HIS  GREATEST  VICTORY  287 

with  the  Quirinal,  seat  of  the  Italian  Government, 
without  difficulty.  He  met  and  liked  Victor  Em 
manuel,  and  this  feeling  was  reciprocated.  Speak 
ing  of  the  King,  afterward,  Roosevelt  enjoyed 
throwing  his  friendly  approval  —  as  often  he  did  — 
into  a  characteristic  humorous  Americanism.  "I 
like  him,"  he  declared.  "He  is  a  genuine  kind  of 
man.  He  could  carry  his  own  ward  in  an  election." 

So  far  as  the  masses  of  the  people  throughout 
Italy  were  concerned  their  attitude  was  one  of  en 
thusiasm.  So  many  of  their  relatives  and  friends 
had  visited  and  lived  in  the  United  States  that 
they  were  in  close  touch  with  our  national  affairs 
and  Roosevelt's  boundless  popularity.  A  friend 
of  mine  writes  me  that  she  saw  Roosevelt  waiting 
at  a  railway  station  in  Italy,  and  she  saw  several 
people  kneel  to  him  and  try  to  kiss  his  hand.  So 
much  for  Italian  fervor  and  free  expression. 

Busy  and  somewhat  bored  weeks  passed  in  this 
touring  of  hospitable,  enthusiastic  Europe.  The 
various  populations  knew  the  great  champion  of 
Democracy,  and  the  crowned  heads  nodded  to  him 
with  an  unconventional  friendliness.  Like  Benja 
min  Franklin  at  Paris  a  century  or  more  before, 
Roosevelt,  loving  realities  and  respecting  himself 
and  his  native  land,  met  all  nobles  and  dignitaries 
on  a  man-to-man  basis.  In  fact,  his  new  royal 
friends  enjoyed  the  free,  frank  atmosphere  which 


288     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

this  well-bred  American  carried  with  him.  For  his 
part  he  wearied  a  little  of  it  at  times.  One  day, 
while  he  was  busy,  a  card  was  sent  up  to  him,  —  a 
card  with  a  crest  and  other  insignia.  "Confound 
it!"  he  exclaimed,  as  he  went  to  meet  his  visitor. 
"These  kings  bore  me  to  death." 

Yet  certain  sensational  American  journals, 
famished  for  news,  maintained  that  he  conceded  too 
much  to  the  effete  royalties  of  Europe,  and  that 
he  regretted  that  our  American  system  of  govern 
ment  had  no  place  for  himself  as  monarch.  He 
heard  of  this  on  his  return,  and  exclaimed  to  W.  R. 
Thayer,  "Think  of  it!  Some  of  those  papers  said 
I  wanted  to  be  a  prince.  Do  you  know  what  a 
prince  is?  He's  a  cross  between  Ward  McAllister 
and  Vice-president  Fairbanks.  How  could  any 
body  suppose  that  I  would  wish  to  be  that !" 

Lawrence  Abbott,  of  the  Outlook,  had  joined 
Roosevelt  at  Khartoum,  and  traveling  thenceforth 
with  him,  rendered  him  tactful,  effective  aid 
throughout  his  visits  in  European  capitals.  The 
volume  of  letters,  appeals  of  all  sorts,  which  poured 
in  upon  Roosevelt  during  the  European  tour, 
almost  passes  belief.  Requests  for  money,  invi 
tations  to  lecture  after  he  had  reached  home, 
advice  sought  on  all  possible  questions,  private  and 
public.  One  morning's  mail  contained  these  items : 
"Applications  for  autographs,  stamps,  post  cards; 


HIS  GREATEST  VICTORY  289 

then  inquiries  about  his  views  on  the  Bacon- Shake 
speare  controversy;  his  opinion  on  the  referendum 
in  city  affairs;  description  asked  regarding  a  spe 
cial  kind  of  African  antelope;  an  article  desired 
for  an  American  college  paper;  a  request  for  an 
article  on  Hungarian  emigration  to  the  United 
States ;  review  desired  of  a  book  of  poems,  sent  by 
the  author;  a  brief  article  for  a  Young  Men's 
Lyceum;  on  International  Peace." 

Thus  the  requests  poured  in,  and  skillful,  tactful 
Lawrence  Abbott  spared  his  chief  all  he  could  and 
met  the  naive  requests  with  courtesy  and  efficiency. 

I  can  the  better  appreciate  this  volume  of  cor 
respondence  flowing  in  upon  Roosevelt  because,  a 
few  years  later,  I  sat  with  him  for  an  hour  one 
day  at  his  desk  in  the  Metropolitan  office,  New 
York.  He  read  aloud  about  thirty  letters  which 
had  come  in  by  the  morning's  mail,  commented  on 
them,  and  passed  them  over  to  his  very  competent 
secretary,  Miss  Josephine  Strieker,  who  was  to 
send  full  replies  which  he  had  briefly  sketched.  In 
this  situation,  as  in  so  many,  his  sense  of  humor 
oiled  the  wheels  of  his  routine  work.  The  letters 
were  as  varied  and  impossible  as  can  be  imagined. 
One  letter  I  recall,  over  which  we  three  laughed 
aloud.  It  was  from  a  man  in  Vermont.  "I  am 
thinking  of  buying  a  horse",  it  began.  "And  I 
write  to  you,  Colonel,  because  you  must  have  learned 


290     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

a  good  deal  from  your  dealing  with  horses  on  your 
ranch.  Now,  the  horse  I  have  had  offered  me 
is  .  .  ."  and  so  on.  Roosevelt  sped  through  the 
badly  written  lines,  really  amused,  I  think,  and 
passed  it  over  to  his  secretary.  From  her  the  man 
in  Vermont  probably  got  a  pleasant  letter,  which 
was  not  likely  to  do  him  any  harm,  at  least. 

Among  the  monarchs  of  the  earth  with  whom 
Roosevelt  consorted  was  King  Haakon  of  Norway. 
They  dined  and  walked  and  talked  together  with 
much  mutual  satisfaction.  Lawrence  Abbott,  who 
saw  all,  tells  so  good  a  story  of  our  great  Repub 
lican,  as  he  charmed  away  the  medieval  prejudices 
of  Norwegian  royalty,  that  I  give  it  in  detail: 

"Mr.  Roosevelt  was  narrating  his  experience  as 
a  deputy  sheriff  in  the  ranching  days.  He  was  in 
pursuit  of  a  red-handed  border  ruffian,  and  his 
friend,  Sheriff  Seth  Bullock,  was  after  the  same 
criminal.  Their  official  lines  converged  and  finally 
met  at  a  point  where  the  pursued  criminal  lay  dead 
on  the  ground.  Then  Roosevelt  said,  'Your 
Majesty,  you  have  been  much  in  England  and  are 
familiar  with  grouse-shooting.  So  that  I  may  tell 
you  that  Sheriff  Bullock  and  I  met,  over  that 
dead  body,  in  the  attitude  of  'My  bird,  I  believe?' ' 

In  Mr.  Roosevelt's  itinerary  of  triumphal  prog 
ress,  Germany  was  included.  The  Kaiser  was  of 
course  one  of  the  most  important  personages  on 


HIS  GREATEST  VICTORY  291 

his  "visiting  list",  for  several  reasons.  And  his 
relations  with  that  individual  had  been  somewhat 
involved.  In  the  Venezuela  affair,  Roosevelt  must 
have  seriously  jarred  the  arrogant  poseur  of 
Berlin.  But  Roosevelt  had  followed  an  intelligent 
and  sustained  policy  toward  him.  This  he  divulges 
in  a  letter  to  Henry  White,  Ambassador  to  Rome, 
in  August,  1906. 

"My  course  toward  the  Kaiser,  during  the  last 
five  years,  has  been  uniform.  I  admire  him,  re 
spect  him,  and  like  him.  But  he  has  intense  ego 
tism.  I  have  tried  to  show  him  that  I  am  friendly 
to  him  and  to  Germany.  When  I  have  forced  him 
to  give  way  I  have  tried  to  build  a  bridge  of  gold 
for  him,  thus  helping  him  to  preserve  his  dignity 
and  reputation.  In  other  words,  when  I  have  had 
to  take  a  part  of  the  kernel  from  him,  I  have  been 
anxious  that  he  should  have  all  the  shell  possible, 
and  have  that  shell  painted  in  any  way  he  wished." 

I  give  Roosevelt's  estimate  of  the  German  Em 
peror  for  what  it  is  worth.  It  was  formulated  in 
1906.  In  1916  and  1918  that  opinion  may  have 
altered.  Letters  had  been  exchanged  between  the 
two  world-leaders ;  now  they  met  and  said  pleasant 
words  to  each  other;  but  under  all  that  intercourse, 
especially  as  read  in  these  post-bellum  days,  there 
seems  always  present  a  guardedness,  a  watchful 
ness,  which  betrayed  a  veiled  mutual  distrust. 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

The  Emperor  showed  his  visitor  every  courtesy 
and  tried  in  several  ways  to  impress  upon  this 
powerful  citizen  of  the  American  Republic  the 
resources  and  the  potentialities  of  his  empire.  As 
a  feature  of  his  hospitality,  the  Emperor  invited 
Roosevelt  to  witness  some  maneuvers  of  his  army. 
This  reviewing  lasted  several  hours;  and  Roose 
velt,  in  speaking  of  it  afterward,  declared  that 
Wilhelm  "talked  steadily."  That  may  be.  But 
I  suspect  that  our  fertile,  fluent  American  did  a 
larger  part  of  the  talking  than  he  realized.  While 
they  were  riding  about  together,  the  court  pho- 
'tographer  took  a  series  of  pictures  of  the  two 
eminent  men.  And  the  Emperor  later  sent  copies 
of  these  to  Roosevelt,  at  Oyster  Bay.  On  the 
backs  of  the  photographs  the  Kaiser  wrote  hu 
morous  explanations.  On  one  of  them  —  a  picture 
of  the  two  on  horses,  with  Roosevelt  talking  vigor 
ously  and  the  Emperor  listening — is  inscribed,  with 
excellent  humor:  "The  Colonel  of  the  Rough 
Riders  lecturing  the  chief  of  the  German  Army." 

A  later  incident  is  pertinent  here,  which  is  told 
about  the  visit  of  a  prominent  German-American 
(so  called)  to  Oyster  Bay,  after  Germany  had 
invaded  helpless,  betrayed  Belgium.  The  visitor 
reminded  Roosevelt  that  the  Emperor  had  shown 
Roosevelt  greater  honors  at  Berlin  than  he  had 
ever  before  shown  to  any  private  individual.  The 


ROOSEVELT    TALKS    WITH    KAISER    WILHELM. 


HIS  GREATEST  VICTORY  293 

drift  of  the  man's  artful  words  was  apparent. 
Roosevelt  sensed  it;  and  his  reply  came  promptly 
and  sharply,  "My  relations  with  the  Kaiser  have 
been  exactly  the  same  as  with  the  King  of  Bel 
gium." 

England  came  last  on  Roosevelt's  list,  and  his 
reception  there  was  sympathetic  and  enthusiastic. 
He  had  given  his  Sorbonne  lecture  in  Paris;  and 
in  London  he  gave  his  now  famous  "Guildhall 
Address."  It  created  great  confusion  for  a  time 
—mainly  protest  and  disapproval — but  all  that 
turmoil  settled  down  soon  into  a  reasonable  ac 
ceptance  of  the  courageous  American's  reasonable 
words.  He  had  simply  told  them  that  they  should 
hold  a  tighter  rein  over  their  dependency,  Egypt. 
As  a  discerning  Englishman  put  it,  he  said,  "Gov 
ern  or  go."  The  recent  assassination  of  Boutros 
Pasha  gave  point  to  his  advice.  John  Bull  frowned 
and  blustered  a  little,  annoyed  that  anybody  should 
advise  him  about  anything ;  but  his  good  sense 
prevailed,  and  very  soon  he  set  on  foot  in  Egypt 
wise,  stern  measures  which  probably  grew  out  of 
Roosevelt's  plain  words.  To  illustrate  the  fitful- 
ness  of  popular  favor  and  disfavor,  I  recall  the 
well-known  fact  that  this  Guildhall  address,  which 
English  newspapers  made  so  much  fuss  about,  was 
not  a  hasty  composition,  as  some  hasty  critics  hastily 
declared,  but  was  prepared  with  great  deliberation; 


294     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

and  its  main  points  were  laid  before  Earl  Grey 
and  others  before  it  was  delivered. 

An  unexpected  and  mournful  episode  in  Roose 
velt's  tour  was  his  attendance  of  the  obsequies  of 
King  Edward.  The  King  had  died  on  May  6,  and 
President  Taft  had  directed  Roosevelt  to  act  as 
a  representative  of  the  United  States  at  the  formal 
exercises.  Much  pomp  and  circumstance  charac 
terized  the  obsequies.  Roosevelt  and  King  Edward 
had  been  friends,  and  the  death  and  loss  came  to 
our  ex-President  in  a  personal  way.  He  bore  his 
part  in  the  sad  duties.  All  the  sovereigns  of  Eu 
rope  assembled  in  London  to  do  honor  to  the  il 
lustrious  dead.  Incidentally,  they  made-  calls  upon 
Roosevelt,  who  was  staying  at  Dorchester  House 
with  Ambassador  Whitelaw  Reid.  And  he  was 
bored  insufferably  by  much  of  their  privileged  and 
titled  dullness. 

One  of  my  classmates  tells  me  that  long  after 
Roosevelt's  return  to  our  shores,  the  two  men  were 
recalling  some  of  the  incidents  abroad.  Said  my 
friend,  "There  must  have  been  vast  crowds  in  the 
London  streets,  when  the  royal  funeral  cortege 
passed,  and  they  were  looking  for  the  last  time  upon 
their  king."  "No,"  replied  Roosevelt,  with  eyes 
twinkling,  "they  were  engaged,  principally,  in 
looking  at  me."  The  hasty,  acrid  reader,  whose 
eye  falls  upon  that  last  sentence,  scoffs  at  its 


HIS  GREATEST  VICTORY  295 

egotism.  But  the  keener  reader  smiles,  with 
Roosevelt  and  my  other  classmate,  and  knows  that 
it  was  absolutely  true  and  is  struck  by  the  some 
what  mournful  humor  of  it.  Roosevelt  was  so 
truthful  that  he  dared  say  even  that.  He  was  not 
spoiled  by  his  unparalleled  popularity,  but  he  was 
not  unaware  of  it.  England  had  pretty  well  got  his 
measure,  if  we  may  cite  Rudyard  Kipling's  words 
as  symptomatic  of  the  national  estimate  of  Theo 
dore  Roosevelt. 

In  a  letter  which  Kipling  wrote  to  Brander 
Matthews  in  1910,  he  said,  "Roosevelt  has  come 
and  gone  and  done  our  state  great  service.  Here 
you  have  one  single-minded  person  saying  and 
doing,  quite  casually,  things  which  ought  to  set 
the  world  planning;  instead  of  which  the  world 
says  'Thank  you,  please  do  it  again.'  Take  care 
of  him.  He  is  scarce  and  valuable." 

My  classmate,  Professor  Albert  Bushnell  Hart, 
has  told  me  about  a  statement  of  Roosevelt's  which 
serves  to  bring  out  one  of  the  rare  sides  of  his 
many-sided  nature.  The  two  friends  were  talking 
together  one  day,  and  Professor  Hart  remarked, 
"You  have  the  reputation,  Roosevelt,  of  being  a 
very  astute  politician." 

This  led  Roosevelt  to  say  these  things.  "I  don't 
know  or  care  what  they  mean  by  my  being  'astute.' 
The  whole  thing  is  simply  that  I  try  to  find  out,  at 


296     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

every  step,  what  is  the  right  thing  to  do,  and  then 
I  do  it.  The  difficulty  is  not  in  the  doing,,  but  in 
the  finding  what  the  right  course  is'3 

That  is  not  the  difficulty  with  most  people. 
Their  difficulty  lies  in  willing  and  doing  the  right, 
after  they  are  reasonably  clear  as  to  what  it  is. 
But  Roosevelt's  nature  was  so  tremendously  moral, 
his  reaction  toward  the  right,  when  discerned,  was 
so  automatic,  that  his  only  difficulty  lay  in  his 
discernment  of  the  right.  And  in  many  of  his 
measures  and  "policies"  —  the  Panama  Canal  and 
the  Coal  Strike,  for  examples  —  this  was  what  gave 
him  power.  Once  having  seen  his  course  clearly, 
according  to  his  best  insight  and  judgment,  he 
moved  toward  it  promptly  and  irresistibly. 

It  was  this  simple,  elemental,  moral  quality  in 
Roosevelt  that  deceived  —  or,  rather  :  eluded  —  his 
rivals  and  enemies,  through  the  greater  portion  of 
his  career.  When  he  said  a  thing  he  meant  it.  But 
they,  by  nature  or  training  devotees  of  indirection, 
instantly  began  to  cast  about  for  his  meaning,  and, 
behold,  it  was  laid  there  at  their  very  door.  "And 
they  call  that  'astuteness',"  exclaimed  my  class 
mate,  with  a  smile  of  vast  delight. 

I  am  reminded  here,  as  I  think  of  the  high  honors 
bestowed  on  Roosevelt  at  this  period  of  his  life, 
of  the  charges  of  mendacity  which  were  hurled  at 
him  by  his  enemies,  at  several  epochs,  This  charge 


HIS  GREATEST  VICTORY  297 

of  mendacity  interests  me,  as  an  analyst  of  Roose 
velt's  character.  It  was  a  superficial,  unscientific 
estimate,  and  was  usually  an  outcome  of  hatred 
rather  than  of  calm  observation.  Roosevelt  was 
essentially  sincere.  His  instinct  for  the  truth  was 
like  that  of  the  compass  needle  for  the  Pole.  Yet 
no  normal  man  of  average  intelligence  but  has  told 
lies,  great  or  small,  many  or  few;  yet  there  is  rarely 
any  doubt  of  the  standing  of  a  man  in  his  friends' 
and  neighbors'  estimation.  A  man  is  known  as 
habitually  truthful  or  mendacious,  irrespective  of 
any  one  fact  in  his  record.  And  Theodore  Roose 
velt  was  almost  fanatically  a  truth-lover,  in  him 
self,  in  other  people,  in  words  and  in  deeds.  But  his 
personality,  his  psychology,  shows  in  this,  —  that 
he  lived  intensely  in  each  day  or  hour,  rarely  re 
calling  the  dead  past,  and  far  more  concerned  with 
observing  and  estimating  accurately  to-day  than 
with  recalling  his  observations  and  estimates  of 
yesterday.  This  habit  of  his  played  havoc  with 
those  tinsel  consistencies  which  so  torment  your 
professional  politician,  —  that  creature  who  never 
puts  himself  on  record  if  he  can  avoid  it,  and  often 
finds  it  convenient  to  be  absent  when  a  measure  is 
put  to  vote. 

I  daringly  said  something  of  this  sort  to  my 
classmate,  one  afternoon  at  Oyster  Bay;  and  he 
took  it  equably,  facetiously,  yet  approvingly. 


298     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

"This  is  what  I  say  to  people,"  I  remarked,  "who 
sneer  at  your  Ananias  Club  and  suggest  that  you 
make  yourself  president  of  it."  He  laughed.  He 
knew  well  my  absolute,  lifelong  devotion  to  him. 
And  he  replied,  with  a  hearty  laugh,  "You  special 
ized  in  Psychology  under  William  James,  in 
college,  I  believe." 

With  the  utmost  good  nature,  he  spoke;  and  I 
answered,  "Yes,  and  I  am  forever  pursuing  a  post 
graduate  course  in  it." 

I  forget  the  exact  year  of  that  visit  and  that  bold 
scalpel-thrust  of  mine ;  but  I  do  recall  that  he  was 
friendly  and  fascinating.  As  I  was  leaving  him 
he  asked,  in  an  instinctively  lower  tone  —  which  I 
laughed  at  openly  —  "Is  there  anything  I  can  do 
for  you,  Gilman?"  And  my  reply  was,  with  a 
warm  grasp  of  his  hand,  "Not  one  thing;  nothing, 
absolutely  —  except  to  allow  me  the  continued  joy 
of  working  to  put  you  in  positions  of  power,  where 
you  may  go  on  fighting  the  good  fight  for  right 
eousness  and  truth." 

Then  it  was  a  bright  smile  from  him  and  a 
"Good-by!  I've  been  delighted  to  have  this  talk 
with  you." 

Still  holding  that  "Ananias  Club"  theme  in 
mind,  I  append  those  eloquent  words  of  Joseph 
Choate,  in  his  address  at  the  dedication  of  the 


HIS  GREATEST  VICTORY  299 

Harvard  memorial  window  in  St.  Saviour  Church 
(Southwark,  London),  in  May,  1905: 

"So  considerable  have  been  the  contributions  of 
Harvard's  sons  to  the  social  and  intellectual  life  of 
our  nation  that,  if  all  other  books  and  papers  were 
destroyed,  our  country's  history  could  be  fairly 
reproduced  from  the  Harvard  University  Cata 
logue,  and  from  what  is  known  of  the  lives  of  the 
alumni  there  registered.  And  if  you  ask  me  if  she 
is  still  true  to  her  ancient  watchwords,  Feritas  and 
Cliristo  et  Ecclesiae,  I  can  answer  that  in  our  own 
time,  in  a  single  quarter  of  a  century,  she  has  sent 
forth  Phillips  Brooks  to  be  a  pillar  of  Christ  and 
the  Church,  and  Theodore  Roosevelt  to  be  a  cham 
pion  of  the  Truth." 


CHAPTER  XV 

LAUREL   AND   CYPRESS 

The  triumphal  tour  of  the  Roosevelt  party 
through  Europe  drew  to  an  end.  And,  from  what 
my  active,  eager  classmate  wrote  and  said,  it  is 
evident  that  he  had  become  bored  with  it  before 
the  end.  He  had  enjoyed  the  novel  experience  of 
dwelling  in  marble  halls  and  talking  with  titled 
persons.  And  he  had  found  that  they  varied  in 
character  and  intelligence  precisely  as  did  the  peo 
ple  whom  he  had  known  in  his  native  land,  —  fellow 
statesmen  or  neighbors  at  Oyster  Bay. 

The  qualities  in  him  which  had  most  appealed  to 
his  friends  in  the  several  European  peerages  were 
his  newness  and  his  apparent  frankness ;  previously 
they  had  flocked  to  William  Cody,  "Buffalo  Bill", 
admirable  type  of  the  American  border-scout  and 
manager  of  the  bewildering  "Wild  West  Show." 
Roosevelt  was  simply  a  later  curio  to  them.  But 
the  astute  ex-President  was  by  no  means  as  naive  in 
his  frank  expressions  of  opinion  as  he  seemed. 
Always,  behind  his  daring  and  flattering  frankness, 
there  sat  an  intelligent  estimate  of  how  much  direct 


LAUREL  AND  CYPRESS  301 

statement  they  could  bear.  And  behind  his  pic 
turesque  speech  and  frontier  stories  lay  a  back 
ground  of  reserve  and  standards  of  cultivation 
quite  equal  to  their  own. 

So  Roosevelt  enjoyed  it  all,  with  that  capacity 
for  enjoyment  so  marked  in  him.  And  then  he 
tired  of  it;  he  had  sounded  the  good  minds  which 
he  had  met  and  had  been  amused  at  the  foibles  of 
the  feebler  folk;  and  now  he  longed  for  home  and 
the  environment  which  was  native  and  dear  to  him. 

I  know  of  nothing  more  like  his  own  impulsive 
self  than  his  sending  from  London  for  Sheriff  Seth 
Bullock.  He  explained  thus,  "By  this  time  I  felt 
that  I  just  had  to  meet  my  own  people,  who  spoke 
my  neighborhood  dialect."  That  "neighborhood 
dialect"  was  stretching  it  a  little.  The  simple  fact 
was  that  Roosevelt  loved  and  trusted  that  fearless, 
outspoken  Black  Hills  sheriff  and  always  had 
done  so,  since  the  two  first  met  in  the  Far  West, 
and  Seth  confessed  presently,  "Yer  see,  by  yer 
looks  I  thought  yer  wuz  some  sort  of  a  tin-horn 
gamblin'  outfit,  an'  I  might  have  ter  keep  my  eye 
on  yer." 

Sheriff  Bullock  and  his  wife  went  over,  as 
Roosevelt  desired;  and  the  presence  of  this  ex 
ponent  of  the  elemental  human  virtues  rested 
Roosevelt,  I  think,  and  made  the  desired  offset  to 
the  attentions  of  dukes  and  duchesses. 


302     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

Roosevelt's  relations  with  persons  of  more  rudi 
mentary  social  training  than  himself,  whether  in 
North  Dakota  or  at  Oyster  Bay,  or  during  a  walk 
through  Rock  Creek  at  Washington,  were  always 
interesting  to  the  analytic  eye.  Charles  Washburn 
recalls  a  visit  which  he  made  to  Sagamore  Hill 
after  Roosevelt's  duties  as  President  had  termi 
nated.  And  Roosevelt  remarked,  "I  am  a  Demo 
crat  and  a  radical.  I  like  to  go  to  the  Lodge 
(Masonic,  not  Cabot!)  and  sit  on  those  hard 
benches  while  my  cousin's  gardener  presides." 

An  exquisite  shading  of  this  "democratic"  qual 
ity  in  Roosevelt  comes  out  in  a  story  told  by  Albert 
Loren  Cheney.  "At  one  of  Mr.  Roosevelt's  recep 
tions  at  Oyster  Bay,  two  members  of  a  reception 
committee  held  rather  old-fashioned  ideas  as  to 
conventional  dress;  and  they  appeared  in  plain 
business  suits,  while  the  other  members  of  the 
committee  wore  Prince  Albert  coats  and  silk  hats. 
The  constraint  was  somewhat  noticeable.  And 
when  the  two  men  in  business  suits  approached  the 
President,  his  eyes  twinkled,  he  raised  his  hands, 
and  exclaimed,  'Here  come  the  aristocrats.' ' 

On  Roosevelt's  return  to  the  United  States,  the 
popular  enthusiasm  was  boundless.  Probably 
never  in  the  history  of  our  country,  during  a  peace 
ful  period,  was  so  much  admiration  lavished  on  a 
plain  citizen.  In  fact  it  became  hysterical,  no  less. 


8 


LAUREL  AND  CYPRESS  303 

Crowds  thronged  about  him  wherever  he  went,  and 
evinced  their  enthusiasm  in  volleys  of  cheers.  Jo 
seph  H.  Choate,  in  a  New  York  letter  of  June  22, 
1910,  to  his  wife,  says: 

"I  was  down  town,  all  the  afternoon,  and,  on 
my  way  up,  I  saw  a  tremendous  crowd  at  Fifth 
Avenue  and  Twenty-second  Street,  filling  the 
entire  street.  As  it  proved,  they  were  simply  wait 
ing  for  Roosevelt  to  come  out  of  Scribner's,  and 
when  he  came  out  there  was  a  rush  and  a  crush,  and 
a  hurrahing  as  if  King  George  V  were  coming,  so 
that  only  with  difficulty  could  he  get  into  his  auto ; 
and  then  it  took  two  blocks  before  two  mounted 
policemen  could  get  him  free  of  the  crowd.  All  the 
same,  he  enjoyed  it  immensely." 

Of  course  he  enjoyed  it;  but  nobody  saw  better 
than  he  the  fickleness  of  extreme  popular  favor 
like  that.  On  several  occasions,  public  and  private, 
he  spoke  of  it;  he  said,  "It  is  hysterical;  and  when 
the  popularity  of  a  man  has  reached  that  stage,  it 
can  turn,  in  an  instant,  to  opposition,  antagonism, 
hate."  At  a  cordial  testimonial  dinner  given  him 
at  Sherry's,  he  said  in  substance,  "On  the  ocean 
there  are  crests  of  waves,  and  hollows  or  troughs 
between  waves.  I  have  reached  the  crest,  and  I 
have  enjoyed  all.  When  the  hollow  comes,  I  will 
try  to  meet  it  as  best  I  can."  He  was  interrupted 


304     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

at  this  point  by  protests  and  cheers.  But  he  smiled, 
shook  his  head,  and  repeated  his  words. 

Man  of  action,  of  adventure  that  he  was,  he 
was  also  a  scholar.  And  he  knew  his  history  and 
biography  too  well  to  be  deluded  by  the  plaudits 
of  the  crowd.  Doubtless  he  was  familiar  with 
Robert  Browning's  "Patriot",  —  "Thus  I  entered 
Brescia  and  thus  I  go."  But  this  keen  analysis  of 
his  environment,  this  relentless  facing  of  facts,  did 
not  prevent  him  from  enjoying  the  sunshine  while 
he  had  it.  And  when  the  shadows  came,  and  the 
sky  darkened,  and  the  faces  of  men  —  both  chronic 
foes  and  apprehensive  friends  —  frowned  upon  him 
he  still  kept  his  poise,  wonderful  man  that  he  was ; 
he  was  dauntless  amid  the  wreckage  of  his  hopes; 
and  nobly,  "without  capitulation",  as  Stevenson 
says,  he  moved  forward  over  his  Via  Dolorosa. 

One  of  my  classmates,  a  sturdy  character,  the 
repository  of  great  wealth  and  important  public 
duties,  said  to  me  excitedly,  at  our  twenty-fifth 
anniversary,  "There  is  nothing  left  for  us.  Life 
offers  nothing  to  look  forward  to."  "What  do 

you  mean,  H ?"  I  asked.  And  he  replied, 

"Why,  this:  We,  as  a  class,  as  a  group,  by  the 
supreme  eminence  of  our  great  classmate,  have 
reached  the  highest  point  possible  in  prestige  and 
fame.  Any  further  move  must  be  downward." 

His  feeling  was  right,  but  he  was  overwrought. 


LAUREL  AND  CYPRESS  305 

Roosevelt  had  a  similar  feeling  when  he  returned 
from  across  the  sea,  with  the  applause  of  Europe 
in  his  ears,  —  yet  that  applause  was  drowned  by  the 
vociferous  adulation  of  his  waiting  fellow  country 
men.  But,  as  so  often  before,  his  humor-sense  re 
lieved  the  tension.  He  said  playfully  to  a  friend 
one  day  at  about  this  time,  "I  am  like  Peary  at  the 
North  Pole;  there  is  no  way  for  me  to  travel  except 
south." 

In  one  sense  he  was  correct.  From  the  outer, 
worldly  viewpoint,  Roosevelt's  course  after  his  re 
turn  to  the  United  States  was  downward,  "toward 
the  south."  But,  inwardly,  subjectively,  judged 
by  those  standards  by  which  impartial  History 
measures  men,  his  course  was  ever  upward  until 
the  end.  And  this  book,  from  now  on,  even  more 
than  in  previous  pages,  will  aim  at  naming  and 
translating  the  high  heroic  steps  of  his  career. 

Mention  must  be  made  first  of  the  outward 
events,  the  political  conditions  in  which  he  played 
his  part.  But  only  in  a  condensed  way  will  they 
be  treated.  The  supreme  question  for  the  analyst 
of  Theodore  Roosevelt's  complex  and  phenomenal 
character  is  this,  —  how  did  he  meet  those  stern 
events  and  harsh  conditions?  What  effect  did 
they  have  upon  him?  What  reactions  did  he  show, 
as  he  moved  along  this  dark,  rocky  defile  of  ad- 


306     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

versity,  in  comparison  with  his  former  reactions, 
when  illumined  by  prosperity  and  success? 

The  answer  is  that  through  all  his  later  disap 
pointments  he  abated  not  one  atom  of  his  high  ideal 
ism  and  pure,  heroic  purpose.  There  are  football 
players  upon  every  college  team  who  play  a  good 
game  so  long  as  their  side  is  winning.  But  when 
the  game  is  going  against  them,  they  slacken,  they 
weaken,  and  sometimes,  in  desperation,  they  resort 
to  methods  which  they  would  have  scorned  when 
they  were  winning.  Roosevelt  was  not  of  that  base 
sort.  He  played  as  nobly,  dauntlessly,  heroically 
in  his  losing  days  as  ever  in  the  winning  days. 
He  remained  the  same  individual,  an  American 
citizen  of  sublime  intent,  in  the  Progressive  cam 
paign  and  during  his  enforced  absence  from  the 
European  battle  line,  as  when  he  held  office  at 
Albany,  and  in  Mulberry  Street,  and  in  the  White 
House. 

The  events  and  conditions  which  followed  his  re 
turn  from  Europe,  briefly  outlined,  are  these.  He 
had  made  Mr.  Taf t,  his  friend,  President.  Not  Taf t 
only,  but  any  man  of  a  half  dozen  that  could  be 
named  would  have  been  put  into  the  White  House 
had  he  so  directed.  Such  was  his  potent  popularity 
among  the  people;  although  the  Republican  bosses 
made  wry  faces  in  their  councils  as  they  conceded 
this  fact. 


LAUREL  AND  CYPRESS  307 

But  Roosevelt  had  misjudged  Taft,  as  often  he 
misjudged  men,  under  the  bias  of  his  tumultuous, 
emotional  nature.  In  cool  blood  he  read  men's 
minds  and  hearts  with  piercing  accuracy.  But 
when  his  blood  became  heated  —  and  it  boiled  at  a 
low  temperature ;  yet  be  it  added  that  it  cooled  with 
remarkable  speed  —  when  heated  and  excited,  his 
power  of  sound  judgment,  as  in  most  men,  became 
inhibited;  and  he  erred.  He  erred  with  regard  to 
Taft.  He  thought  that  Taft  was  in  entire  accord 
with  him,  and,  sharing  his  views,  would  continue 
his  policies.  But  he  was  mistaken.  And  Taft, 
when  left  to  himself,  and  especially  when  left  to 
the  influences  of  his  friends,  deviated  from  the 
Rooseveltian  policies  and — so  Roosevelt  believed, 
on  his  return  from  .Africa  —  was  working  harm  to 
the  Republican  Party  and  to  the  nation. 

There  is  no  need  of  my  going  into  the  details 
of  Taft's  measures  and  policies.  At  the  best  they 
are  now  but  dry  bones  of  the  dead  past.  The  inter 
esting  thing  is  Roosevelt's  character  and  conduct 
through  this  period.  Because  his  leadership  of 
the  Progressive  Party,  and  -especially  his  antag 
onism  toward  his  former  friend,  are  acts  which 
have  been  hardest  for  the  American  people  to 
understand. 

Let  it  be  said  here  that  there  was  no  personal 
strain  between  Roosevelt  and  Taft.  A  report  has 


308     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

gone  forth  that  when  Roosevelt  set  sail  from  New 
York,  he  sent  a  friendly  farewell  telegram  to  Taft, 
but  was  grieved  or  annoyed  that  Taft  did  not  ac 
knowledge  this  message  for  nearly  fifteen  months. 
That  report  is  quite  unfounded  in  fact.  From 
personal  letters  read  by  me,  I  know  that  Taft  sent 
a  most  friendly  letter  to  Roosevelt  just  before  he 
sailed.  And  Roosevelt's  telegram  to  Taft,  sent 
from  the  steamer,  expected  no  reply  and  was  itself 
a  reply  to  the  friendly  Taft  letter  which  I  have 
mentioned.  Taft  did  not  write  to  Roosevelt  during 
the  African  trip  because  he  did  not  wish  to  disturb 
him  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  well-earned  holiday. 
As  he  wrote  Roosevelt  on  May  26,  1910,  "I  did  not 
wish  to  invite  your  comment  or  judgment  on  mat 
ters  at  long  range,  or  to  commit  you  in  respect  to 
issues  which  you  ought  perhaps  only  to  reach  a 
decision  upon  after  your  return  to  the  United 
States." 

This  was  all  fair  and  friendly  on  Taft's  part. 
And  Roosevelt,  as  he  came  back  into  American  life, 
had  no  personal  animus  toward  his  successor.  Sim 
ply,  as  weeks  passed  and  as  he  studied  existing 
national  and  political  conditions,  and  as  he  read 
the  complaining  letters  which  poured  in  upon  him, 
he  became  estranged  from  at  least  the  policies  if 
not  at  first  the  person  of  the  President.  Then  came 
the  singular,  unprecedented  message  and  sum- 


LAUREL  AND  CYPRESS  609 

mons  to  him  from  the  "Seven  Governors."  They 
urged  him,  they  laid  upon  him  the  solemn  duty  that 
he  oppose  Taft's  renomination. 

Not  at  once,  but  after  long,  careful  inquiry  and 
reflection,  he  heeded  this  unparalleled  summons. 
His  own  strengthening  conviction  was  that  his 
duty  to  the  Republican  Party  and  to  the  country 
necessitated  such  a  step. 

At  this  point  I  present  portions  of  an  extremely 
interesting  letter  written  at  this  time  by  Judge 
Robert  Grant,  of  Boston,  to  a  friend.  It  narrates 
incidents  of  a  visit  made  to  Judge  Grant  by  Roose 
velt,  and  is  written  in  a  personal,  confidential  man 
ner. 

"T.  R.'s  visit  to  me  was  arranged  January  23rd 
(1912),  when  he  wrote  asking  if  it  would  be  con 
venient  for  me  to  put  him  up,  for  the  night  of 
February  25th  (Sunday),  as  he  was  coming  on  to 
a  Harvard  Overseers'  meeting.  He  had  a  standing 
invitation  to  stay  with  me  whenever  he  came  to 
the  Overseers'  meetings. 

"You  have  already  heard  of  the  letter  from  the 
seven  Governors  and  of  his  Columbus  speech.  .  .  . 
Of  course  that  speech  had  set  the  country  into 
convulsions,  and  every  one  was  on  tiptoe  to  know 
what  his  answer  was  to  be,  though  it  was  generally 
assumed  that  'Barkis  was  willing.'  My  house  had 
suddenly  become  a  storm  center,  not  altogether  to 


310    ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

my  relish,  fond  as  I  am  of  Theodore.  All  Sunday 
morning  the  telephone  was  kept  very  busy  by 
newspapers  and  people  who  wished  to  communicate 
with  him,  and  a  small  army  of  reporters  had  es 
tablished  itself  near  my  house. 

"When  T.  R.  arrived,  at  3:30,  he  said  he  would 
not  see  any  one  until  5 :30,  and  that  he  wished  to 
tell  my  wife  and  me  'all  about  it.'  So  he  sat  down 
in  our  library  and  talked  over  two  hours.  At  six 
o'clock  he  had  a  short  interview  with  the  reporters, 
downstairs,  but  gave  them  no  inkling  of  what  his 
response  to  the  Progressive  invitation  would  be. 
He  told  them  that  his  decision  would  be  announced 
from  New  York. 

"Three  friends  —  invited  at  his  request  —  came 
to  dinner  that  evening,  and  sat  with  us  until  half- 
past  eleven,  the  conversation  —  an  absorbing  mono 
logue  punctuated  by  questions  —  running  mainly 
on  the  burning  topic  [the  proposed  Progressive 
Party].  Theodore  seemed  in  perfect  health.  As 
he  was  starting  upstairs  for  the  night  he  stretched 
out  his  arms  and  exclaimed,  'I  feel  fine  as  silk.'  It 
was  just -midnight;  and  with  the  strenuosity  of  the 
day  I  myself  was  feeling  a  trifle  jaded. 

"Next  morning  the  news  was  in  the  newspapers; 
and  our  house  became  —  until  four  o'clock  —  a  po 
litical  headquarters.  I  fled  to  my  court  duties  at 
nine,  but  my  wife  stood  by  the  Penates.  The 


LAUREL  AND  CYPRESS  311 

Colonel  had  possession  of  the  rooms,  downstairs, 
and  visitors  were  numerous,  coming  singly  and  in 
delegations  —  some  from  other  states. 

"Some  of  the  points  which  were  brought  out  by 
our  conversation,  the  evening  before,  were  these. 
I  asked,  'Has  not  every  one  of  your  friends  ad 
vised  you  against  this  step?'  He  replied  that  every 
one  had;  but  that  he  had  deliberated  long  upon  the 
matter  and  could  not  disregard  the  call  made  upon 
him  by  the  seven  Governors, — to  do  so  would  be 
cowardice.  'But  you  will  agree  that  Taft  has  made 
a  good  President,  this  last  year?'  I  suggested.  He 
acquiesced,  without  enthusiasm,  and  added  that 
Taft  had  left  the  Republican  party  in  a  condition 
of  respectable  inactivity.  When  I  suggested  that 
the  public  would  say  that  he  was  disloyal  to  the 
President,  it  was  evident  that  this  did  not  disturb 
him. 

"Further,  he  said  that  he  realized  that  the  proba 
bilities  were  all  against  his  nomination;  that  a 
President  in  office  has  all  the  machinery  on  his  side; 
but  that,  of  course,  it  would  not  do  to  admit,  out 
side,  that  he  expected  to  lose.  .  .  .  Unquestionably 
he  believes  that  we  are  on  the  brink  of  a  great 
economic  revolution,  and  that  it  is  better  that  the 
Republican  party  should  point  the  way  than  that 
the  Socialists  should  lead.  It  was  manifest  that  he 
believed  that  it  was  indispensable  for  the  future 


312     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

good  of  the  Republican  party  that  he  should  make 
the  breach.  When  he  said  as  much,  I  asked:  'But 
the  situation  is  complex,  I  suppose?  You  would 
like  to  be  President.'  'You  are  right,'  he  replied, 
'it  is  complex.  I  like  power;  but  I  care  nothing 
to  be  President  as  President.  I  am  interested  in 
these  ideas  of  mine  and  I  want  to  carry  them 
through,  and  feel  that  I  am  the  one  to  carry  them 
through.'  He  said  that  he  believed  the  most  im 
portant  questions  to-day  were  the  humanitarian 
and  economic  problems,  and  that  reforms  were 
urgent. 

"Much  as  I  admire  him,  I  feel  as  if  he  has  made 
an  unnecessary  mistake  which  threatens  to  be  his 
Waterloo.  And  yet  at  the  same  time,  I  am  so  in 
sympathy  with  his  desire  for  social  justice  that  I 
am  likely  to  be  classed  as  one  of  his  supporters. 
But  I  feel  a  little  as  if  a  Baby  had  been  left  on  my 
doorsteps." 

Here  I  take  up  that  most  nearly  insoluble  prob 
lem  in  Roosevelt's  career,  —  his  break  with  Taft. 
It  is  not  really  insoluble,  not  actually  incompre 
hensible,  but  complicated  and  intelligible  only  as 
one  grasps  the  "springs  of  action"  in  Roosevelt's 
nature.  Often  I  have  heard  people  say,  "I  admire 
Roosevelt  in  all  particulars  except  one.  I  cannot 
understand  —  or  forgive  —  his  going  back  on  Taft, 
his  friend." 


LAUREL  AND  CYPRESS  313 

That  statement  argues  well  for  the  sound, 
wholesome  heart  of  the  speaker,  but  reveals  that 
speaker's  misapprehension  of  Roosevelt's  mental 
and  moral  make-up.  His  affections  were  strong 
but  his  moral  sense  was  even  stronger.  He  felt 
deeply  the  call  of  friendship,  but  his  devotion  to 
duty,  to  right  and  truth  as  he  understood  them,  was 
phenomenal,  even  fanatical.  And  the  change  of 
attitude  which  he  underwent  toward  Taft  he  would 
have  undergone  toward  his  closest  of  kin,  even 
toward  a  member  of  his  own  beloved  family,  under 
similar  conditions. 

That  stand,  taken  by  Roosevelt  against  Taft, 
was  either  fanaticism  or  it  was  exalted  patriotism. 
Call  it,  then,  which  you  will.  But  I  have  stated  the 
psychology,  the  ethics  of  it,  as  it  appears  to  me. 

One  of  Roosevelt's  striking  acts  at  this  period, 
while  his  possibilities  as  the  Republican  candidate 
were  pending,  was  his  Columbus,  Ohio,  speech,  on 
February  21,  1912.  In  that  speech  he  set  forth 
his  now  well-known  measure,  the  "Recall  of  Ju 
dicial  Decisions."  Reports  of  this  measure  —  in  a 
distorted,  incorrect  form,  the  "Recall  of  Judges" 
—  spread  quickly  over  the  whole  country;  and  it 
aroused  much  sharp  opposition;  it  was  held  to  be 
revolutionary  and  anarchic.  As  a  "Recall  of 
Judges"  it  would  indeed  have  been  very  radical; 
but  it  was  only  a  recall  of  their  decisions.  And 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

such  a  recall  —  as  Roosevelt  wrote  me  personally 
—  should  come  only  after  giving  the  people  several 
months  in  which  to  reach  a  cool,  calm  opinion. 

Taking  this  Columbus  speech  in  this,  its  real  and 
moderate  form,  it  interests  me  in  two  ways.  First, 
it  was  an  astonishing  act  of  courage  or  defiance; 
Roosevelt  must  have  known  that  it  would  arouse 
the  entire  legal  profession  and  thousands  of  other 
persons  against  him.  Second,  I  see  in  this  "Recall 
of  Judicial  Decisions",  this  check  and  correction 
laid  upon  the  courts,  a  consistent  expression  of 
Roosevelt's  life-long  distrust  of  legal  prestige  and 
power.  All  through  his  life  —  at  least  after  his 
brief  study  of  law  in  his  uncle's  office  —  he  dis 
trusted  the  absolute  authoritative  integrity  of  the 
legal  profession.  He  numbered  many  trained  at 
torneys  among  his  friends,  but  his  distrust  lay 
rooted  under  all,  nourished  by  his  experiences  with 
New  York  courts.  Further,  his  plea  for  the 
"Recall"  expressed  his  profound  democratic  belief 
in  the  authority  of  the  body  of  the  people  over 
against  any  class  or  privilege.  He  was  the  most 
consistent,  democratic  Republican  that  this  coun 
try  ever  produced. 

So  he  made  his  daring,  consistent,  conscientious 
"suicidal"  speech,  which  further  included  the  radi 
cal  but  less  inflammatory  suggestions  of  the  Initia 
tive  and  the  Referendum,  and  took  what  came  of  it. 


LAUREL  AND  CYPRESS  315 

What  came  of  it  was  the  renomination  of  William 
Howard  Taft  by  the  bosses,  sometimes  called  the 
"Old  Guard",  of  the  Republican  Party. 

The  "Old  Guard",  posing  as  the  Republican 
Party,  ruled  out  unmanageable  Theodore  Roose 
velt,  who  could  have  swept  the  country  as  the  Re 
publican  nominee;  but  it  failed  to  elect  its  candi 
date;  and  it  threw  the  election  to  the  Democratic 
candidate,  Woodrow  Wilson.  Thus  the  bosses  of 
the  Republican  Party  split  that  party  through  their 
own  jealousy  and  greed  of  power,  when  they  might 
have  steered  it  to  victory.  The  final  vote  proved 
this.  The  election  of  November  5,  1912,  gave  the 
result:  about  fifteen  million  votes  were  cast; 
Wilson  received  about  six  million ;  Roosevelt  about 
four  million,  and  Taft  about  three  million.  If  the 
total  votes  for  Roosevelt  and  Taft  had  been  thrown 
as  one  vote  for  Roosevelt  as  a  Republican  candi 
date,  he  would  have  been  elected  by  over  a  million 
votes;  but  the  Republican  bosses  would  then  have 
lost  their  control,  even  as  they  actually  lost  it  by 
the  election  of  Wilson. 

As  soon  as  it  became  clear  that  Roosevelt  had 
been  shut  out  of  the  Republican  nomination,  which 
the  party  as  a  whole  desired  for  him  —  shut  out  of 
it  by  meticulous  and  even  perverted  applications 
of  legal  technicalities  and  precedents,  in  the  Con 
vention — then  the  Progressive  Party  began  to 


316     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

take  fuller  form.  And  it  held  its  convention  at 
Chicago  on  August  5. 

Two  impressions  I  give,  concerning  that  remark 
able  assembly,  out  of  the  many  equally  vivid  ones 
which  press  for  utterance.  First,  I  recall  the 
marked  moral  and  even  religious  character  of  that 
Convention,  contrasting  strongly  with  the  adroit 
manipulation  and  smooth,  steam-roller  action 
which  had  prevailed  at  the  Republican  convention. 
Those  Progressive  delegates  may  or  may  not  have 
been  in  error,  but  at  least  that  convention  never 
was  surpassed,  in  its  high  idealistic  quality,  by  any 
political  gathering  in  history,  ancient  or  modern. 

And  there,  among  those  highly  wrought  indi 
vidualists,  the  delegates  —  where  the  "lunatic 
fringe"  was  often  plainly  in  view  as  they  conferred 
and  debated  over  that  bone  of  contention,  the 
platform  of  the  new  party  —  among  them  moved 
Roosevelt,  calmest  and  steadiest  of  them  all,  a 
miracle  of  self-possession,  with  the  fires  of  his 
heart  banked  into  submission,  leading  his  almost 
frenzied  followers  to  a  goal  of  agreement  and  a 
harmony  of  purpose.  As  one  of  the  California 
Progressives  said,  "Only  the  courage,  tact,  and 
steadiness  of  Colonel  Roosevelt  prevented  a  smash- 
up.  There  was  almost  hysteria  in  the  ranks,  due 
to  overwork  and  insomnia.  But  Roosevelt,  who 


LAUREL  AND  CYPRESS  317 

had  worked  harder  and  slept  less  than  any  of  them, 
kept  also  the  coolest  head." 

That  testimony  is  significant  as  bearing  upon  the 
question  of  the  mental  health,  the  sanity,  of  our 
great  leader.  For  the  charge  of  mental  derange 
ment  was  one  of  the  several  shallow,  ridiculous 
charges  brought  against  him  by  superficial  critics 
and  desperate  enemies.  An  alienist  of  good  repute 
in  New  England  published  at  this  period  an  article 
which,  without  using  Roosevelt's  name  openly,  was 
an  evident  and  savage  attack  upon  him,  and  set 
forth  proofs  of  his  mental  unsoundness  at  great 
length.  One  of  the  leading  newspapers  in  Boston 
declined  to  print  the  fallacious  article,  but  another 
accepted  it.  This  unjust  attack  was  only  one  of 
numerous  onslaughts  made  on  Roosevelt's  condi 
tion  and  capacity.  But,  through  them  all,  as 
through  a  shower  of  missiles,  that  brave  man  strode 
Jftn,  with  a  soundness  and  steadfastness  which  was 
not  like  that  of  a  broad-based,  commonplace 
earthen  jar,  but  like  the  elasticity  and  vitality  of 
a  wind-scourged,  pliant  sapling,  bending  and  often 
seeming  to  yield,  but  ever  regaining  its  vertical 
poise,  the  poise  of  health  and  strength. 

Apropos  of  the  methods  used  in  the  Republican 
Convention  of  1912  at  Chicago,  I  will  quote  my 
classmate,  Albert  Bushnell  Hart,  Professor  of 


318     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

Government  at  Harvard  University.  He  was  a 
delegate-at-large  to  the  Convention. 

"In  the  Chicago  Convention,  all  the  evidence 
obtainable  showed  that  a  majority  of  the  Repub 
lican  voters,  the  country  over,  preferred  Roosevelt ; 
while  the  majority  of  the  delegates  elected  pre 
ferred  Taft.  Had  Roosevelt  started  in  a  month 
earlier,  he  would  have  secured  about  twenty  more 
delegates;  and,  in  the  judgment  of  many  people 
on  the  ground,  that  addition  of  twenty  on  one  side 
and  their  subtraction  from  the  other  side  would 
have  turned  the  scale.  The  decision  was  really 
made  by  the  southern  delegates,  who  personally  in 
clined  to  Roosevelt,  but  were  chosen  by  methods 
which  put  them  into  the  hands  of  the  other  side. 

"By  a  close  vote,  the  Taft  forces  got  control  of 
the  machinery  of  the  Convention.  The  Roosevelt 
men  made  it  their  business  to  show  that  there  was 
a  strong  body  of  Roosevelt  supporters  who  would 
vote  for  him  to  the  last.  Hence  the  unceasing 
volume  of  cheers  and  demonstrations.  The  man 
agement  was  so  exasperated  that  Chairman  Root, 
by  a  ruling  absolutely  contrary  to  all  the  prece 
dents  of  the  Republican  Convention,  held  that  no 
member  could  be  present  and  decline  to  vote;  and 
thereby  subtracted  two  votes  from  the  Massachu 
setts  delegation,  which  was  tied.  The  Roosevelt 
delegates  felt  that  the  will  of  the  party  had  been 


LAUREL  AND  CYPRESS  319 

scandalously  disregarded  and  most  of  them  wel 
comed  the  'Bolt'  as  the  only  means  of  protecting 
popular  government." 

After  the  Progressive  nomination  was  given 
Roosevelt,  amid  an  enthusiasm  never  transcended 
in  history,  came  the  campaign  for  the  November 
election.  In  that  campaign  I  bore  my  humble  part. 
It  is  difficult,  in  these  discreet  and  cautious  days, 
to  find  men  who  were  Progressives  in  those  glorious 
days  of  1912.  There  is  a  singular  ignorance  of  it, 
often  in  quarters  where  it  was  supposed  to  have 
taken  deep  root  and  flourished.  All  men  to-day 
who  lay  claim  to  at  least  average  intelligence, 
affirm  the  greatness  of  the  leader  of  that  splendid 
protest  against  machine  rule.  But  not  all  of  whom 
I  would  have  expected  it  are  ready  to  avow  their 
old-time  sharing  in  that  reform  movement.  There 
fore  let  me  here  make  it  clear  that  I  was  a  Pro 
gressive,  and  by  pen  and  tongue  and  purse  gave 
all  the  aid  I  could  to  put  our  "Greatest  American 
citizen"  into  our  "greatest  seat  of  power",  —  the 
White  House.  Bearing  in  mind  Mr.  Dooley's 
piquant  sketch  entitled,  "Alone  in  Cubia",  I  emu 
late  him  in  his  charming  disregard  of  arithmetical 
accuracy,  and  I  declare,  with  a  smile,  that  at  least 
one  other  hat  —  mine  —  was  "in  the  ring"  with 
Roosevelt's. 


320     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

Seriously,  recalling  the  events  of  1912,  I  do  not 
find  that 

"The  leaves  of  memory  seem  to  make 
A  mournful  rustling  in  the  dark." 

On  the  contrary,  I  look  back  upon  that  thrilling 
period  as  through  a  rainbow  arch  of  beauty.  The 
old  days  of  romance  and  sentiment,  the  days  of 
crusades  and  holy  quests,  seemed  to  have  come 
again.  This  old  brown  earth,  though  old,  was 
not  sterile,  and  had  produced  in  our  time  one  who 
rivaled  King  Arthur  and  Richard  the  Lion- 
hearted.  We  sought  to  tear  Wrong  from  the 
throne  and  Truth  from  the  scaffold,  but  in  vain, 
at  least  largely  in  vain.  The  will  of  the  people, 
a  people  who  believed  itself  self-governed,  was 
thwarted;  and  the  will  of  a  half-dozen  political 
bosses,  miscarrying,  set  a  man  in  the  White  House, 
who  —  to  use  my  illustrious  classmate's  own  words 
—  was  "not  an  idealist,  but  a  selfish,  dishonest  poli 
tician." 

One  of  the  "high  lights"  of  that  glorious  Pro 
gressive  campaign  was  the  startling  yet  heartening 
episode  of  the  attack  on  Roosevelt,  at  Milwaukee, 
by  an  insane  man,  Schrank.  At  once  the  broad, 
deep  sympathy  of  a  whole  nation  went  out  nobly 
toward  the  victim  of  the  bullet.  Then  our  Progres 
sive  hearts  throbbed  proudly  as  we  read  how 


LAUREL  AND  CYPRESS 

splendidly  our  leader  had  met  that  dreadful  expe 
rience.  Dauntless  he  was,  in  deed  as  in  word;  no 
stage  hero  he;  no  sonorous  orator  he,  like  Cicero, 
whose  recreant  legs  bore  him  safely  away  from  the 
tumults  which  his  golden  voice  had  raised;  but  an 
earnest  man  with  a  message  to  his  nation  and  ready 
to  die  in  the  endeavor  to  deliver  that  message.  We 
devotees  could  not  love  him  more,  but  we  hoped 
that  the  incident  would  reveal  his  noble  quality 
more  fully  to  the  nation  at  large. 

About  a  year  after  this  shooting  outrage,  I  was 
visiting  my  classmate  at  Oyster  Bay.  As  we  sat 
in  his  study,  I  remarked  lightly,  "I  have  looked  up 
on  your  mantel,  thinking  I  might  see  Schrank's 
flattened  bullet  there,  in  a  vial."  My  host  smiled 
in  return,  took  my  key  at  once — as  he  so  easily  did, 
with  people  he  trusted  —  and  replied,  "I  haven't 
put  that  missile  up  on  exhibition  yet.  I  may 
sometime.  But  now  I've  got  it  safe  here  -  "  smit 
ing  his  big,  full  chest  a  mighty  blow --"It's  safe 
enough,  anyway.  And  it's  mine,  all  mine,  too." 

Little  wonder  it  was  that  the  popular  mind  was 
much  confused  and  misled,  in  those  heated  cam 
paign  days,  about  the  Progressive  candidate. 
Ninety-eight  per  cent,  of  the  newspapers  of  the 
country  were  against  him.  Many  editorial  writers 
believed  what  they  wrote,  but  many  did  not.  I 
knew  one  who  wrote  against  him  for  months,  but 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

on  the  wall  of  that  man's  bedroom  hung  a  photo 
graph  of  Theodore  Roosevelt;  and  one  of  his 
newspaper  companions  declared  that  he  said  his 
prayers  to  it.  Such  was  the  power  of  the  counting- 
room  and  such  was  the  insistence  of  household 
needs. 

Among  the  wild,  absurd,  impossible  canards  that 
flew  about  in  those  exciting  days,  I  know  of  noth 
ing  more  ludicrously  extreme  than  this.  I  was 
called  to  my  telephone  one  evening,  and  a  friend, 
a  fellow  Progressive,  spoke  to  me.  Said  he,  "A 
business  man  of  my  acquaintance,  from  Georgia, 
is  here  in  Boston.  He  tells  me  that  in  his  city  this 
story  is  generally  believed;  namely,  that  at  a  ban 
quet  there  recently,  Roosevelt  was  a  guest,  that  he 
drank  to  excess,  and  that  after  all  guests  had  left 
the  dining  hall,  Roosevelt  slipped  back  into  it  and 
drained  the  dregs  of  several  wine  glasses." 

My  friend,  over  the  telephone,  began  to  follow 
up  this  grotesque  and  ghastly  lie  with  apologies 
for  taking  my  time  with  it.  But  I  broke  in  with 
a  half-hearted  laugh,  which  he  gladly  echoed.  "Of 
course  it's  a  lie,"  I  said.  And  he  responded,  "There 
couldn't  be  a  bigger  one." 

So  extreme  was  the  antagonism  toward  Roose 
velt  at  that  period,  so  completely  did  it  inhibit 
sound  judgment  and  common  sense. 

At  several  meetings  of  Progressive  leaders,  the 


LAUREL  AND  CYPRESS  323 

untrue,  libelous  attacks  by  newspapers  were  dis 
cussed  and  lawsuits  were  suggested  but  were  not 
brought.     Roosevelt  himself  was  fully  aware  of 
all  these  scurrilous  attacks,  and  they  irritated  him 
appreciably.     But  he  did  nothing  about  them  — 
except  to  give  the  lie  to  the  more  nearly  respectable 
of  them  —  and  then,  after  the  contest  was  over,  and 
the    country,    with    that    remarkable    equilibrium 
which  characterizes  it,  settled  quickly  into  place 
and  peace,  then  Roosevelt,  having  fought  the  lions 
and  nobler  beasts  of  the  campaign,  turned  his  at 
tention  to  the  hyenas  and  jackals  who  had  hung 
on  the  trail  of  the  nobler  animals.    He  picked  out 
a  typical  case  of  libel;  an  editor  of  a  newspaper 
in  Michigan  had  declared  in  print  that  Roosevelt 
got  drunk  frequently.     Roosevelt  brought  a  suit 
against  the  wretched  man,  trial  by  jury  came  on, 
lasted  one  week,  and  a  verdict  was  returned,  in 
Roosevelt's  favor,  for  the  nominal  sum  of  six  cents. 
This  was  the  result  which  he  had  desired,  complete 
vindication  without  doing  too  much  harm  to  the 
loose-tongued,  contemptible  culprit. 

In  trying  to  explain  to  myself  the  scandalous 
rumors  about  drunkenness  which  Roosevelt's  ene 
mies  —  and  even  shallow  friends  —  encouraged, 
especially  during  the  heated  Progressive  campaign, 
I  have  recalled  my  classmate's  excited  manner  in 
conversation  and  at  dinner  parties;  and  I  have 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

seen  that  a  casual  observer,  noting  his  eager, 
animated  speech  and  gestures,  and  noting,  for 
instance,  wine  glasses  in  general  use,  might  easily 
have  been  led  to  associate  the  two  facts  and  to  say 
that  in  Roosevelt  the  wine  caused  the  animation. 
But  such  a  judgment  as  that  would  have  been 
foundationless.  It  was  his  own  eager  spirit  that 
gave  animation  to  his  words  and  actions.  A  class 
mate  said  this  to  me  recently,  "Theodore  was  the 
most  abstemious  of  men.  He  didn't  know  the 
difference  between  whisky  and  gin.  I  have  sat 
at  public  and  private  dinners  with  him  often.  He 
didn't  care  what  he  ate  or  drank.  His  great  in 
terest  was  intellectual,  moral,  and  humane  ques 
tions.  If  I  had  invited  him  and  a  half-dozen  other 
friends  to  dine,  and  my  cook  had  failed  me,  I  would 
have  worried  less  about  Theodore  than  about  any 
of  the  other  guests." 

There  is  another  enlightening  explanation  of 
the  wicked,  absurd  rumors  about  intoxication  which 
John  Leary  gives.  "I  was  with  Roosevelt  and 
other  friends  at  Oyster  Bay,  just  after  the  trial 
of  the  Michigan  editor.  Our  host  passed  around 
the  cigars,  remarking  that  he  could  not  vouch  for 
them  because  he  did  not  smoke,  but  that  Leonard 
Wood  gave  them  to  him  and  Wood  knew.  Some 
body  then  asked  Roosevelt  if  he  ever  smoked.  And 
his  reply  touched  the  drinking  scandal.  'Often, 


LAUREL  AND  CYPRESS  325 

when  I  have  declined  a  cigar,  my  friend  has  asked 
lightly,  "And  what  are  your  bad  habits?"  and  I 
have  replied,  in  a  similar  mood,  Prize  righting 
and  strong  drink.  Now  it  happens',  continued 
Roosevelt,  'that  the  Lord,  in  His  infinite  wisdom, 
elected  to  create  some  persons  with  whom  it  is 
never  safe  to  joke  —  solemn  asses  who  lack  a  sense 
of  humor.  One  of  those  persons  to  whom  I  made 
that  jocular  remark  said  to  somebody  else,  "Roose 
velt  I  have  heard  drinks  hard."  And  that  other 
fool  confirmed  it :  "Yes,  I  know  he  does ;  he  told  me 
so  himself."  And  so  the  story  went  on  its  travels.' ' 
I  fear  that  we  Progressives  were  more  or  less 
made  up  like  that  groping  company  in  Adullam's 
cave.  So  kind,  sad  friends  told  us  often.  But  not 
wholly;  probably  only  the  "fringe"  was  "lunatic." 
Not  all  the  members  of  that  gallant  company  could 
be  described  as  "in  distress  or  in  debt  or  discon 
tented."  The  "Mighty  Three"  must  not  be  for 
gotten,  they  of  the  dauntless,  deathless  loyalty. 
Many  there  were  among  us  of  that  strain.  And 
they  fought  and  hoped  —  yes,  and  prayed  —  for 
they  knew  that  their  cause  was  just.  But  "The 
children  of  darkness  are,  in  their  generation,  wiser 
than  the  children  of  light."  And  victory  was 
denied  those  devoted  crusaders,  while  Truth  crept 
sorrowfully  back  upon  his  scaffold  and  Wrong 
vaulted  gayly  to  his  unmerited  throne. 


326    ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

The  defeat  at  the  polls  was  hard  for  most  of  us 
to  accept,  especially  as  we  were  convinced  that  the 
people  as  a  whole  had  desired  Theodore  Roosevelt 
to  be  their  President.  As  for  Roosevelt  himself, 
if  he  was  borne  down  by  the  defeat,  even  temporar 
ily,  few  saw  evidence  of  it.  Perhaps  we  loyal 
followers  overestimated  the  burden  of  his  disap 
pointment.  But  he  had  been,  through  the  eager, 
anxious  months,  our  mighty  Atlas,  bearing  up  our 
world,  and  we  felt  deep  gratitude  and  longed  to 
spare  him  all  we  could. 

When  one  takes  into  the  account  Roosevelt's 
wonderful  dynamic  equation,  his  combative  per 
sonality,  his  always  joyous  championship  of  justice 
and  truth,  irrespective  of  results,  the  conclusion  is 
naturally  reached  that  he  by  no  means  regretted 
his  attempt  at  reform  of  party  weakness  and  boss 
tyranny,  and  he  might  easily  have  paraphrased 
and  cheerfully  repeated  the  trite  old  lines,  "  'Tis 
better  to  have  fought  and  lost,  than  never  to  have 
fought  at  all." 

In  a  recent  conversation  with  James  Ford 
Rhodes,  he  spoke  thus  of  Theodore  Roosevelt.  "I 
knew  him  through  many  years,  and  always  I  rec 
ognized  him  as  a  great  man.  He  was  our  greatest 
President  since  Lincoln.  And  he  was  the  most 
bookish  man  we  ever  had  in  the  White  House, 
despite  all  the  emphasis  he  put  on  sports  and  out- 


LAUREL  AND  CYPRESS  327 

door  life.  He  had  rare  powers  of  insight;  and  he 
could  almost  foresee  coming  events.  A  consistent 
man  he  seemed  to  me,  too,  despite  the  changes  in 
his  views  which  have  sometimes  misled  people's 
judgments  of  him.  He  grew  steadily,  all  through 
his  career;  that  growth  explained  his  changes  in 
opinion.  His  transparent  honesty  and  sincerity 
was  a  winning  quality.  To  this  quality  —  and  a 
physical  and  moral  courage  which  could  never  be 
questioned  —  he  added  a  large  intelligence  and  a 
rare  power  of  combining  ideas  into  cohesive 
thought.  Lincoln  and  Washington  were  his 
ideals." 

When  I  mentioned  the  Progressive  Party,  with 
Roosevelt  as  its  leader,  Mr.  Rhodes  shook  his  head. 
"I  doubt  if  Roosevelt  acted  wisely  in  that,"  said  he. 

I  responded  cheerfully  that  I  believed  that  he 
had  done  exactly  the  brave  though  partly  -unsuc 
cessful  thing  which  needed  to  be  done. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

VALIANT   FOE   TRUTH 

I  come  now  to  the  last  chapter  of  this  interpre 
tation  of  the  character  of  Theodore  Roosevelt. 
And,  as  I  glance  back  over  the  pages  already 
written,  I  see  that  I  am  ending  where  Virgil  began : 
it  is  arma  virumque  cano;  and  would  that  I  had 
the  inspired  pen  to  chant,  in  rhythmic  strophes,  the 
epic  of  his  dauntless,  consecrated  life.  He  was 
armor-clad,  sword  in  hand,  a  "Happy  Warrior." 
He  was  an  ethical  idealist,  —  not  in  words,  merely, 
but  in  daring  deeds  and  sustained  industry,  en 
during  privations  and  accepting  vicissitudes. 
Dauntless  in  the  face  of  danger,  generous  in  the 
hour  of  victory. 

Roosevelt's  moral  idealism,  attested  by  his  every 
deed,  is  what  most  commands  my  admiration  and 
devotion.  This  element  in  a  great  leader's  char 
acter  is  what  determines  his  lasting  fame  before  that 
mighty  court  —  supreme  over  all  other  courts  — • 
World  Opinion.  The  world  may  be  dazzled  for  a 
time  by  the  unscrupulous  meteor-like  career  of  a 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  or  a  Frederick  the  Great; 


VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH 

but  it  places  in  its  permanent  Pantheon  of  exalta 
tion  only  such  steadfast,  star-like  idealists  as 
Abraham  Lincoln,  Chinese  Gordon,  Francis  of 
Assisi,  Georges  Clemenceau  and  Theodore  Roose 
velt. 

As  I  pass  and  repass  over  the  incidents  of  his 
life,  shaping  and  reshaping  my  conceptions  of 
him,  I  hold  all  to  be  true  of  him  that  I  have  pre 
viously  affirmed;  but  now,  nearing  the  end,  I 
exclaim:  "How  wonderfully  and  ceaselessly  this 
man  developed  under  the  schooling  of  life !"  No  one 
preeminent  quality  in  him  made  him  great.  He 
had  the  ordinary  faculties  possessed  by  his  fellow 
men  —  will,  memory,  insight,  patience,  courage  — 
only  he  had  them  in  an  extraordinary  degree,  each 
highly  developed,  none  rudimentary,  an  assemblage 
of  qualities  essentially  human  but  so  fully  devel 
oped  in  him  that  he  was  not  merely  "Man";  but  as 
Oscar  Straus  declared  to  me,  with  conviction  and 
repetition,  "He  was  superman." 

His  chosen  field  of  study,  in  college  days  as 
afterward,  was  not  political  economy  or  sociology 
or  government,  but  it  was  a  cross-section  of  all 
these  which  we  might  call  "Applied  Morals", 
morality  applied  to  life,  worked  out  in  individuals 
and  groups.  No  abstractions  pleased  him;  but 
righteousness  in  terms  of  tenement  houses,  sweat 
shops,  corporations,  courts,  criminals,  wages, 


330     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

trusts,  —  all  these  problems,  with  their  human  in 
terest,  called  upon  his  insight  and  judgment  and 
courage.  And  among  these  conditions  and  forces, 
as  on  a  battlefield  among  cohorts  and  battalions, 
he  fought  joyously,  gloriously,  and  life  to  him  was 
a  boon  and  a  blessing. 

It  might  seem  that  at  this  point  in  his  life,  having 
filled  acceptably  such  high  public  offices  and  having 
made  such  a  triumphal  tour  abroad,  he  would  find 
few  interests  left  him  during  his  waning  years. 
Indeed,  he  said  this  very  thing  to  me,  at  Sagamore 
Hill  one  day:  "I  am  through,  I  fancy,  with  the 
active  part  of  my  life.  Henceforth  the  place  for 
a  man  of  my  age  is  the  hearth- side  and  with  the 
grandchildren."  But  his  eyes  were  bright,  even  as 
he  said  this,  and  his  expression  was  playful,  and 
I  knew  that  the  lion  in  him  would  rouse  easily  and 
instantly,  on  challenge. 

This  playful  plea  of  my  strenuous  classmate  was 
only  the  merest  pretence.  He  knew  himself  well 
and  knew  that  "the  call  of  the  wild"  would  be 
potent  over  him  to  the  end  of  his  days.  Theodore 
Roosevelt,  with  his  frank,  direct  nature,  was  very 
unlike  the  "Wily  Odysseus"  of  ancient  Greek 
tradition.  But  he  had  many  points  in  common 
with  Tennyson's  "Ulysses."  As  I  read  that  poem, 
I  come  to  the  line, 


VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH  331 

"I  cannot  rest  from  travel.     I  will  drink 
Life  to  the  lees.  .  .  ." 

And  I  am  reminded  of  our  illustrious,  active 
American.  He  was  eager  to  explore  new  regions 
of  the  earth;  he  desired  to  experience  every  human 
emotion.  Hence,  in  1913,  when  the  opportunity 
came  to  travel  into  the  wilderness  of  South 
America,  he  accepted  it.  It  was  an  expedition 
fraught  with  perils  and  privations,  at  its  best ;  and, 
in  his  case,  it  exhausted  him  and  took  years  from 
his  life.  This  he  knew  well  and  admitted,  on  his 
return.  And  thousands  of  saddened  friends,  in 
1918,  said  to  one  another,  "But  for  that  deadly 
trip  into  the  wilds  of  Brazil,  our  'Greatest  Amer 
ican'  could  become  our-President  in  1920." 

The  original  object  of  the  expedition  was  the 
securing  of  flora  and  fauna  from  the  central 
plateau  of  Brazil.  Roosevelt's  great  interest  in 
natural  history  made  this  prospect  extremely  at 
tractive.  But,  at  Rio  Janeiro,  the  Brazilian  Min 
ister  suggested  that  Colonel  Roosevelt  join  in  with 
the  plans  of  Colonel  Rondon,  an  experienced 
Brazilian  explorer,  and  trace  the  course  of  a 
slightly  known  river,  the  Rio  da  Duvida  (River 
of  Doubt).  This  plan  was  carried  out. 

A  detailed  account  of  the  vicissitudes  of  this 
deadly  trip  has  been  written  out  by  Roosevelt  in 
a  book,  "Through  the  Brazilian  Wilderness."  The 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

wonder  is  that  any  one  of  the  Roosevelt  party 
survived  the  exhausting  experiences.  All  of  them 
were  in  bad  condition  when  they  returned  to  New 
York,  and  the  leader  himself,  at  that  time  fifty- 
five  years  old,  was  manifestly  at  low  ebb. 

An  interesting  and  very  "human"  incident  which 
occurred  on  Roosevelt's  journey  from  New  York 
City  down  to  Oyster  Bay  has  been  given  me  by 
Charles  K.  Bolton,  of  the  Boston  Athenaeum. 
After  the  train  had  started  from  New  York, 
Roosevelt  was  told  that  a  considerable  number  of 
fellow  townsmen  had  come  up  to  the  city  in  order 
to  travel  back  with  him  and  shake  hands  with  him. 
He  was  in  a  very  fatigued  and  even  weakened  con 
dition;  but,  on  learning  this,  he  started  on  a  tour 
through  the  train  and  greeted  every  friend.  He 
ended  this  wearying  little  tour  in  the  baggage  car, 
where  he  sat  down  to  rest  on  a  trunk.  Presently 
he  asked  a  friend,  who  was  standing  near  him,  if 
he  could  get  him  a  glass  of  water.  This  was  done 
speedily.  Just  as  he  was  about  to  drink,  a  little 
dog,  who  was  fastened  as  "baggage"  at  the  end  of 
the  car,  whined  a  plaintive  request  for  some  of  that 
water. 

Instantly  Roosevelt  noted  the  thirsty  little  ani 
mal's  need  and  wish,  carried  the  glass  of  water  over 
to  the  animal,  drank  half  of  it,  and  gave  the  eager 
little  creature  the  remainder. 


VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH  333 

It  was  a  characteristic  act.  He,  the  hunter  of 
big  game,  who  had  killed  lions  and  bears  and  many 
savage  beasts,  never  lost  that  tender  sympathy 
with  petted  dogs  and  horses  which  always  charac 
terized  at  least  three  Roosevelt  generations.  Sav 
age,  man-eating  beasts  of  forest  and  jungle  were 
quite  different,  in  Colonel  Roosevelt's  estimation, 
from  the  loving,  trusting,  dependent  animals  of 
the  household  whom  we  make  our  pets. 

A  disastrous  enterprise  the  Brazilian  trip  had 
proved  to  be.  "The  River  of  Doubt"  -now  called 
by  official  order  Rio  Teodoro  —  had  been  discov 
ered,  but  at  too  great  a  cost.  Roosevelt,  after 
manifesting  the  most  inflexible  courage  and  forti 
tude,  came  back  to  civilization  sick  and  enfeebled, 
and  with  at  least  a  decade  of  years  cut  out  of  his 
life.  But  such  years  as  he  had  remaining  he  filled 
with  acts  of  the  finest  fiber  of  American  citizenship. 
After  a  few  months  of  rest  and  recuperation,  he 
rose  nearly  to  his  former  level  of  efficiency,  —  or 
outwardly  appeared  to.  Then  came  the  challenge 
to  his  lion-like  nature,  —  his  beloved  country's  great 
need  of  leadership  in  the  days  when  Germany  was 
threatening  the  rest  of  the  world  and  the  man  in 
the  White  House  was  elaborating  his  "watchful 
waiting."  "Waiting?"  For  what?  Waiting  for 
an  indignant,  humane  nation  to  force  him  into  a 
righteous  war. 


334     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

President  Wilson's  apologists  urge  that  he  could 
not  safely  and  wisely  have  moved  toward  war 
"until  he  had  the  country  behind  him."  But  the 
reply  to  that  plaintive,  dove-like  cooing  is  that  had 
he  been  a  real  leader,  he  could  have  led  them  to 
action  a  year  before  they  reached  it,  —  dragging 
him  along  with  them.  Had  Theodore  Roosevelt 
been  President  he  would  have  been  a  real  leader; 
he  would  have  brought  the  people  —  by  speeches 
and  proclamations  —  a  year  earlier  to  that  goal  of 
just  and  valorous  knight-errantry  toward  which, 
unaided  from  the  White  House,  they  were  blindly 
groping  their  way. 

Lyman  Abbott  —  perspicacious  man  —  said  to 
me  anent  the  Mexican  internal  troubles,  just  then 
under  full  headway,  "If  Theodore  Roosevelt  were 
President  he  would  settle  and  quiet  Mexico  in  one 
month.  Such  is  his  power  of  stimulating  leader 
ship."  And  the  same  principle  would  have  held 
true  of  the  vastly  larger,  more  complex  World 
War. 

While  the  pacifistic  occupant  of  the  White 
House  dallied  with  his  obvious  duty  and  the  people 
became  more  and  more  impatient  at  his  indiffer 
ence  and  timidity,  Roosevelt  busied  himself,  day 
and  night,  by  tongue  and  pen,  in  voicing  the  rising 
tide  of  popular  demand  that  we  take  part  in  the 
defense  of  justice,  freedom,  and  world-civilization. 


VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH  335 

Although  many  Pacifists  and  pro-Germans  raised 
a  hue  and  cry  against  his  efforts,  Roosevelt  became 
steadily  the  incarnated  demand  of  the  American 
people  for  righteous  participation  in  the  war. 

In  this  voicing  of  the  wish  and  will  of  the  people, 
Roosevelt  was  much  aided  by  his  confidential  rela 
tions  with  the  newspaper  men  of  the  country. 
John  Leary,  Jr.,  has  given  us  a  very  interesting 
chapter  on  the  singularly  intimate  terms  on  which 
Roosevelt  lived  with  the  reporters  or  correspond 
ents  of  the  great  New  York  dailies.  They  hung 
about  him  at  Oyster  Bay,  even  in  his  days  of  de 
feat,  like  a  guard  of  honor.  They  knew,  with  a 
newspaper  man's  instinct,  that  although  he  was 
under  the  shadow  of  official  disapproval,  yet,  as  a 
private  citizen,  he  stood  foremost  in  the  country, 
and  his  influence  was  more  potent  than  that  of  any 
other  man. 

By  their  tact  and  intelligence  and  admiration, 
those  reporters  knew  how  to  adjust  themselves  to 
the  sometimes  imperious  yet  always  generous,  ten 
der  will  of  the  man  about  whom  they  gathered. 
They  formed  a  brilliant  little  coterie  and  liked  to 
think  of  themselves  as  a  "newspaper  cabinet", 
after  the  fashion  of  the  intimate  "Tennis  Cabinet" 
of  former  days  at  Washington. 

All  through  his  life  Roosevelt,  more  than  any 
known  public  man,  had  depended  on  newspaper 


336     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

men;  through  them,  treated  squarely,  he  had  been 
able  to  thwart  the  wiles  of  party  leaders  and  make 
himself  understood  by  the  "Plain  People",  —  his 
real  source  of  power.  He  always  established  trust 
ful  and  even  affectionate  relations  with  them.  He 
was  once  a  guest  of  the  Illinois  Bar  Association 
at  a  dinner.  Several  of  the  members  of  the  "news 
paper  cabinet"  followed  him,  but  were  kept  out 
side.  When,  half  through  the  dinner,  he  learned 
that  they  were  not  allowed  to  be  present,  he  left 
the  table  and  joined  them  in  the  grill  of  the  hotel, 
remaining  there  much  longer  than  the  presiding 
officer  of  the  dinner  wished. 

But  the  incident  —  and  others  like  it  —  bound 
him  and  the  newspaper  men  over  the  whole  country 
closely  together,  even  though  many  of  those  men, 
at  times,  were  compelled  to  conceal  their  sympa 
thies. 

The  genuine  affection  in  which  that  "cabinet" 
picked  men  —  at  Oyster  Bay  held  him  was  evinced 
at  the  sad  end,  when  they  learned  that  he  had  died. 
John  Leary  gives  the  tender  touch  to  that  situa 
tion,  thus: 

"The  taxicab  driver  was  taking  two  reporters 
back  to  the  station  from  Sagamore  Hill,  on  the  day 
when  its  master  left  it  on  his  last  journey.  'Brace 
up,  Phil!'  said  one.  'We'll  soon  be  in  town.  Pull 
yourself  together!'  'Shut  up,  you  fool!'  blubbered 


VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH  337 

the  other.  'You're  crying  just  as  hard  as  I  am.5 ' 
During  the  highly  wrought  ante-war  period, 
aided  by  the  more  independent  newspapers,  Roose 
velt —  it  has  been  said  by  competent  judges  —  did 
a  greater  work  than  when  in  the  presidential  chair. 
He  was  tireless  in  summoning  the  nation  to  rise 
from  its  ease  and  lethargy  and  to  heed  its  con 
science  and  its  heart,  as  the  continued  tyrannies 
and  atrocities  of  Europe  were  reported  in  this 
country.  Through  it  all,  with  Pacifists  and  pro- 
Germans  synchronizing  in  their  extremely  militant 
demands  for  peace,  he  kept  on  his  way.  He  was 
again  in  battle,  this  warrior,  and  he  was  happy, 
yet  anxious  withal.  His  faith  in  the  American 
people  —  true  democrat  that  he  was  —  never 'really 
failed. 

Julian  Street  gives  a  few  flashing  lines  of  com 
ment  worth  remembering.  "Well  may  we  be 
thankful  that  Roosevelt  lived  to  see  his  profound 
faith  in  us  justified,  lived  long  enough  to  see  us 
take  up  arms,  in  answer  to  his  repeated  calls,  to 
see  us  quit  the  life  of  ease  for  that  of  strenuous 
endeavor.  That  the  poison  of  Pacifism  did  not 
ruin  our  nation  was  due  largely  to  the  fact  that  we 
had  Theodore  Roosevelt  as  an  anti-toxin." 

When,  after  a  laggard  year  had  dragged  itself 
along,  came  the  declaration  of  war,  April  6,  1917, 
not  many  days  elapsed  before  Roosevelt  made  his 


ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

suggestion  of  sending  across  a  regiment  or  even  a  di 
vision  of  men  made  up  of  former  Rough  Riders  and 
similar  men  —  all  over  the  draft  age  —  with  ex 
penses  paid  by  private  subscription,  with  equip 
ment  furnished  by  the  Allies,  and  thus  not  con 
flicting  with  the  plans  of  the  regular  army.  He 
was  to  go  with  it,  but  not  as  its  commander.  There, 
as  in  the  Spanish  War,  his  good  sense  and  modesty 
showed. 

Everything  looked  favorable.  Men  volunteered 
for  this  division  by  hundreds,  and  a  quota  could 
easily  have  been  raised.  But  —  the  President  did 
not  favor  it.  Senator  Warren  G.  Harding  placed 
a  resolution  before  the  Senate,  in  harmony  with 
Roosevelt's  suggestion.  It  passed  the  Senate  and 
hung,  for  a  time,  in  the  House;  but  eventually  it 
passed.  But  —  the  President  would  not  sign  it. 
He  said  that  it  would  interfere  with  the  plans  of 
the  regular  army.  A  flimsy  reason. 

Roosevelt,  eager,  anxious  to  take  part  in  the 
great  world  conflict,  humbled  himself  to  the  seek 
ing  of  an  interview  with  the  President  in  the  White 
House.  In  vain.  "Had  I  said  to  a  man  what 
Wilson  said  to  me,"  remarked  Roosevelt  after 
ward,  "it  would  have  meant  a  permission.  But  it 
was  Wilson  who  said  it,  and  Wilson  is  —  well,  I 
don't  know." 

That  was  Wilson's  evasiveness.     "Being  by  na- 


VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH  339 

ture  and  inclination  secretive"  -as  ex-Secretary 
Lansing  has  expressed  it  —  he  left  the  matter 
cloudy,  in  Roosevelt's  eager,  anxious  mind.  Then 
came  those  ominous,  terrible  words  of  Roosevelt's, 
as  cited  by  Leary,  "It  is  the  regret  of  my  life  that 
I  am  not  permitted  to  serve.  Had  I  been  per 
mitted  to  go  across,  there  need  not  have  been  any 
fear  felt  as  to  political  glory  to  be  reaped  by  me, 
•for  I  would  never  have  come  back" 

That  awful  statement  meant  that  he  knew  his 
limited  resources  of  health  and  strength,  and  he  in 
tended  to  give  all  —  yes,  consecrate  and  expend 
himself  in  this  enterprise,  and  die  on  a  European 
battlefield  —  in  behalf  of  world- justice  and  a 
righteous  peace. 

Such  an  avowal  of  martyr-purpose  would  not 
mean,  from  some  men,  all  that  it  meant  from 
Roosevelt.  But  we  know  him,  and  we  know  that 
he  would  have  carried  out  his  intention.  It  makes 
me  recall  by  contrast  the  prophetic  words  of  my 
friend,  Judge  Marcus  P.  Knowlton,  regarding 
Wilson  in  the  beginning  of  Wilson's  presidential 
term:  "We  must  not  expect  the  highest  things  of 
Mr.  Wilson."  And  we  learned  that.  In  pain  and 
sorrow,  in  regret  and  despair,  we  learned  it.  But 
with  Roosevelt  we  learned  to  expect  the  highest, 
the  heroic  things.  And  our  dauntless  leader  never 
failed  us. 


340     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

But  that  humiliating  personal  and  hopeless  ap 
peal  to  the  autocrat  of  the  White  House  marks 
for  me  the  nadir  of  my  classmate's  adversity  and 
pain.  Think  not  that  he  would  have  made  that  ap 
peal  for  any  personal  gain.  To  die  were  easier. 
But  for  his  country's  fair  fame,  for  the  rescue  of 
civilization  in  Europe  —  for  the  welfare  of  the 
world  —  for  all  these  he  bowed  himself  and  became 
a  supplicant.  In  vain. 

As  a  document  bearing  very  directly  and  per 
sonally  upon  this  period  in  Roosevelt's  career,  I 
offer  a  letter  of  recent  date,  written  to  me  by 
Frederick  H.  Allen,  my  classmate  and  Roosevelt's. 

New  York,  March  24,  1921. 
My  dear  Gilman: 

I  have  just  received  your  letter  regarding  your 
"Life  of  Roosevelt"  and  am  very  glad  to  answer  it. 

You  will  recollect  that  Congress,  shortly  after 
the  declaration  of  war,  on  April  6th,  1917,  passed 
a  resolution  to  allow  the  formation  of  a  volunteer 
force  not  to  exceed  one  hundred  thousand  men. 
This  resolution  was  passed  for  the  purpose  of  per 
mitting  Roosevelt  to  organize  this  force.  This, 
with  the  aid  of  a  staff  of  workers,  his  friends,  was 
almost  complete  and  hundreds  were  enrolling  every 
day.  What  was  lacking  was  the  permission  of  the 
President  to  make  it  a  recognized  body,  and  a  part 
of  the  army. 

Mr.  Roosevelt  had  tried  in  vain  to  get  this  per 
mission  from  the  President;  and  he  finally  asked 
me,  as  his  friend  and  as  a  life-long  Democrat  and 


VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH  341 

one  who  had  been  active  in  Mr.  Wilson's  election, 
and  who  was  in  somewhat  close  touch  with  the 
Administration,  to  go  to  Washington  to  see  if  I 
could  not  secure  this  permission.  He  authorized 
me  to  say  that  if  he  should  be  permitted  to  get  up 
an  army  corps,  that  the  President  could  appoint 
the  commander  of  the  corps,  the  commanders  of 
divisions,  and  that  he  would  be  the  eighth  brigadier, 
in  command  merely  of  a  brigade. 

I  went  to  Washington  and  saw  Mr.  Baker,  Sec 
retary  of  War,  and  told  him  what  Mr.  Roosevelt 
had  said.  He  demurred  at  the  idea,  on  the  ground 
that  this  war  should  be  carried  on  by  the  regular 
officers  of  the  army,  and  stated  that  the  organiza 
tion  of  the  armies  should  be  carried  through  on  the 
lines  laid  down  by  the  General  Staff  and  the  regu 
lar  officers,  and  did  not  think  it  well  that  a  volun 
teer  force  should  be  got  together.  I  said  to  him 
that  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  question  was  a  broader 
one  and  should  not  be  considered  from  the  stand 
point  of  the  General  Staff  and  regular  officers  of 
the  army  alone.  That  the  country  was  not  yet 
awakened  to  the  seriousness  of  the  war,  that  its 
enthusiasm  had  not  yet  been  aroused,  and  that  it 
would  not  only  be  a  great  help  to  the  country  to 
secure  the  eager  support  of  Roosevelt  and  his 
ardent  admirers  and  friends,  but  that  I  felt,  from 
the  Democratic  Party  point  of  view,  it  would  be 
a  very  helpful  thing  to  enlist  this  enthusiastic  sup 
port  and  aid  for  the  Democratic  Administration 
and  for  the  furtherance  of  its  policies  in  the  prose 
cution  of  the  war.  Besides,  as  commander  of  a 
brigade,  Mr.  Roosevelt's  position  would  only  be 
one  in  which  he  would  be  directed  to  carry  out 
orders  and  in  no  way  be  one  in  which  he  would 


342     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

have  any  influence  upon  the  plans  or  strategy  of 
a  campaign. 

I  saw,  however,  from  Mr.  Baker's  non-com 
mittal  replies,  that  the  cards  had  been  stacked 
against  Roosevelt,  and  that  there  was  little  hope 
of  success.  However,  in  order  to  do  all  I  could 
and  in  order  to  get  my  views  promptly  before  the 
President,  I  got  Admiral  Grayson,  the  President's 
personal  physician,  who  saw  him  every  day  and 
who  is  an  old  friend  of  mine,  to  lunch  with  me; 
and  I  set  forth  the  arguments  that  I  had  stated  to 
Mr.  Baker,  and  told  him  what  I  considered  to  be 
Mr.  Baker's  attitude,  and  that  I  wanted  him  to 
make  a  personal  appeal  to  the  President  regard 
ing  the  question;  and  he  promised  immediately  to 
do  so,  and  told  me  further  that  he  agreed  with 
me. 

I  returned  to  New  York,  and  promptly  saw 
Roosevelt  and  told  him  of  my  interviews,  but  that 
I  felt  there  was  no  hope  of  success.  That  Mr. 
Baker  had  merely  "rubber  stamped"  the  views  of 
the  Administration  and  the  General  Staff;  and  so 
it  proved  to  be. 

After  my  appointment  with  the  Naval  Avia 
tion  in  August,  and  shortly  before  sailing  for 
France,  I  went  to  say  good-by  to  Roosevelt;  and, 
almost  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  he  congratulated  me 
upon  the  wearing  of  the  uniform  which  had  been 
his  heart's  desire.  I  never  saw  him  again,  as  he 
died  before  I  returned  to  this  country.  I  still  be 
lieve  that  had  he  been  allowed  to  organize  the 
corps  which  he  wished  to  do,  that  it  would  have  re 
sulted  in  our  getting  into  action  in  France  much 
more  promptly  than  we  did,  in  effective  force ;  for 
most  of  the  men  enrolled  by  him  had  already  had 


VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH  343 

more  or  less  military  training  and  could  have  been 
promptly  shipped  overseas. 

This  part  of  my  classmate's  letter,  bearing  upon 
Wilson's  autocratic  and  probably  jealous  action, 
needs  no  comment.  The  letter  goes  on  interest 
ingly,  thus: 

In  the  Spring  of  1917,  General  Stepanek,  then 
Major  Stepanek,  who  was  one  of  a  committee  of 
three,  consisting  of  President  Mazarik,  Mr.  Benes 
and  himself,  whose  headquarters  were  in  Paris, 
and  who  represented  all  the  elements  in  Czecho 
slovakia  opposed  to  the  Central  powers,  came  out 
to  this  country  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a 
volunteer  force  of  Czecho- Slovaks  to  go  over  to 
France  to  fight.  He  brought  letters  to  me  and  I 
took  him  down  to  Washington,  first  to  the  State 
Department,  where  we  saw  various  gentlemen  and 
where  little  but  a  vague  knowledge  seemed  to  exist 
as  to  the  attitude  of  the  Czecho- Slovaks  towards 
the  war,  and  the  reasons  why  so  many  of  them  had 
deserted  and  gone  over  to  the  enemy,  and  were  in 
opposition  to  the  Central  powers,  and  they  seemed 
in  Washington  to  be  rather  suspicious  of  these 
people  as  citizens  of  an  enemy  power. 

We  were  told  that  the  Government  did  not  wish 
to  have  bodies  of  Italian- American,  Franco-Amer 
ican  or  American  Czecho- Slovak  troops,  but  that 
all  citizens,  no  matter  of  what  descent,  should  be 
organized  into  a  national  American  army.  This 
difficulty  was  finally  overcome  by  granting  permits 
to  Czecho-Slovaks,  whether  citizens  or  not,  to  go 
to  France  as  civilians,  where  they  were  afterwards 
organized  as  troops.  However,  prior  to  accom- 


344     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

plishing  this,  I  got  Roosevelt  to  meet  General 
Stepanek  and  myself  at  the  Harvard  Club,  and  in 
stead  of  having  to  set  forth  detailed  explanations 
as  we  had  had  to  do  in  Washington,  the  historic 
and  other  reasons  for  the  disaffection  of  Czecho 
slovakia,  we  immediately  saw  that  Mr.  Roosevelt 
knew  the  history  of  the  country,  the  history  of  its 
coming  under  the  Austrian  crown,  the  difficulties 
the  people  had  always  had  in  their  relations  with 
the  Austrian  Empire,  and  the  reasons  why  the 
great  majority  of  the  people  took  the  position  they 
did  in  opposition  to  Austria  in  the  war.  No  ex 
planations  were  necessary  with  him,  such  as  we  had 
to  make  in  Washington. 

Very  truly  yours, 

Frederick  H.  Allen. 

During  this  period  of  Wilson's  "watchful  wait 
ing"  our  country  was  sinking  steadily  in  the  esteem 
and  good-will  of  the  entire  world.  Our  nation  was 
in  a  ferment  of  unrest  and  shame.  The  best  ele 
ments  of  our  people  were  increasingly  desirous  of 
throwing  our  strength  —  sadly  and  criminally  un 
prepared  though  we  were  —  on  the  side  of  the  Allies 
as  soon  as  possible.  At  this  time,  while  visiting 
friends  in  Stockbridge,  I  made  an  afternoon  call 
upon  Joseph  H.  Choate.  That  brilliant  diplomat, 
rich  in  honors,  proved  as  always  a  most  cordial 
and  entertaining  host.  Conversing  about  current 
affairs,  I  recall  that  he  said,  "I  receive  a  good  many 
visits  here  from  many  kinds  of  people,  many  of 
them  men  from  other  countries.  And,  from  all  that 


VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH  345 

I  can  gather,  we  are  the  most  hated  people  on  the 
face  of  the  earth."  This  he  said  with  that  blending 
of  humor  and  truth  for  which  he  was  famous.  A 
few  moments  later,  as  he  asked  me  questions,  it 
transpired  that  I  spoke  of  being  a  college  class 
mate  of  Roosevelt's;  and  I  added,  "I  admire  and 
love  that  man." 

Instantly  a  mischievous  smile  spread  over  his 
expressive  countenance;  and,  laying  his  friendly 
hand  on  my  shoulder  to  counteract  the  sharpness 
of  his  words,  he  called  out  to  his  wife,  in  an  adjoin 
ing  room,  "Do  come  in  here,  Mabel!  Here's  a  man 
who  really  admires  Roosevelt."  But  this  was  only 
a  bit  of  play;  and  he  said,  immediately  afterward, 
some  wise,  kind  words  about  our  then  unpopular 
Progressive  leader. 

The  tide  of  popular  favor,  however,  was  then 
at  its  lowest  ebb.  The  country  —  influenced  not  a 
little  by  Wilson's  hesitancy  and  procrastination  — 
was  giving  more  and  more  sympathetic  heed  to 
Roosevelt's  exhortatiens.  And  Mr.  Choate,  like 
many  other  excellent  citizens,  altered  his  attitude 
appreciably  toward  that  man  who  was  really,  in 
those  days  of  impatience  and  shame,  our  country's 
leader,  its  uncrowned  king.  ' c  Autres  temps,  autres 
moeurs",  says  the  adage.  "Opinions  alter  with  the 
years",  we  may  translate  it.  And  one  of  the  most 
striking  changes  in  opinion  and  attitude  that  I 


346     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

know  was  this:  During  the  warring  days  of  the 
Progressive  campaign,  my  illustrious  classmate  — 
talking  with  that  rare  and  charming,  but  danger 
ous,  freedom  of  his  —  said  to  me,  "I  have  many 
enemies;  but  the  bitterest  enemy  I  have  is  Win- 
throp  Murray  Crane."  I  could  not  forget  that 
statement.  Fancy  my  feeling,  therefore,  as  I  sat 
in  a  Roosevelt  Memorial  Association  meeting  in 
Symphony  Hall,  Boston,  in  the  autumn  of  1920, 
and  heard,  after  the  speaking,  announcements  of 
checks  given  and  moneys  pledged  to  the  Memorial 
Fund;  and  the  first  check  which  was  read  was  "One 
thousand  dollars  from  Winthrop  Murray  Crane." 
Times  had  changed  assuredly.  Just  how  much  and 
in  what  ways  they  had  changed,  I  will  not  affirm. 
I  make  my  statement  of  facts  and  leave  it. 

Roosevelt,  the  many-sided  man  of  wide  interests 
and  broad  sympathies,  always  kept  in  friendly 
touch  with  the  magazine  world.  From  1908  to 
1914  he  was  connected  with  the  Outlook  magazine. 
He  was  free  to  express  his  own  opinions  in  its 
columns  on  any  topic,  over  his  name.  This  he  did, 
yet  he  was  open  to  suggestions  and  frequently  al 
tered  his  statements  and  modified  his  opinions,  as 
some  friend  gave  him  new  light  on  a  subject. 

In  1914,  he  became  associated  with  the  Metro 
politan  magazine.  As  previously  mentioned  in 
these  pages,  I  had  the  great  pleasure  of  sitting  be- 


FKAZIKR  S    BRONZE    BAS-RELIEF    OK    ROOSEVELT. 


VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH  347 

side  him  at  his  desk  one  forenoon  —  the  competent 
and  devoted  Miss  Josephine  Strieker,  his  secretary, 
being  a  third  —  and  listened  to  scores  of  letters 
which  had  come  to  him,  and  listened  also  to  the 
tactful,  sympathetic  replies  which  he  dictated.  The 
mot  is  told  of  him,  in  this  connection,  that  he  found 
certain  critical  people  hard  to  please.  "If  I  go 
down  from  my  office  or  come  up  to  it,  in  the  front 
elevator,  they  say  that  I  am  ostentatious.  And  if 
I  go  or  come  in  the  rear  elevator,  they  say  that  I 
am  secretive." 

At  this  period,  and  later,  he  wrote  many  edi 
torials  for  the  Kansas  City  Star.  Through  these 
various  channels  and  by  numberless  speeches  —  he 
was  incessantly  in  demand  —  he  carried  on  his 
patriotic  leadership  of  the  best  thought  of  the 
nation.  Together  with  all  this  public  activity  ran 
purely  and  happily  the  parallel  current  of  his 
private  home  life.  His  work  for  the  nation  did 
not  prevent  him  from  meeting,  with  great  wisdom 
and  matchless  fidelity,  the  demands  upon  him  of 
his  nearest  of  kin.  The  same  lofty  key  of  family 
life  at  Sagamore  Hill  was  kept  throughout  its 
master's  life.  Mr.  Bishop  gives,  in  a  letter,  a  story 
which  is  striking  but  in  no  way  exceptional,  as  to 
the  high  quality  of  the  home  life  of  the  Roosevelt 
family. 

During  Roosevelt's  tour  in  Europe  on  his  return 


348     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

from  Africa,  the  ex-President  and  Mrs.  Roosevelt 
were  staying  with  the  Crown  Prince  and  Princess 
of  Sweden.  At  dinner  one  day,  the  Crown 
Princess  turned  to  Roosevelt  and  asked,  "Is  it 
true  that  Mrs.  Roosevelt  would  not  receive  the 
Russian  Grand  Duke  Boris  when  he  was  in 
America?"  Her  guest  met  her  frank  question  with 
a  reply  equally  frank. 

"We  were  at  Sagamore  Hill,  not  at  the  White 
House,  when  the  incident  occurred  which  you  have 
in  mind.  The  Grand  Duke  had  led  a  scandalous 
life  in  America.  This  was  known  to  everybody. 
The  Russian  ambassador  asked  permission  to  bring 
the  Grand  Duke  to  our  home.  I  could  not  courte 
ously  refuse  this  request.  Mrs.  Roosevelt  shared 
my  disapproval  of  the  Grand  Duke's  notorious 
conduct  and  felt  that  his  presence  in  our  house 
would  be  an  insult.  Accordingly,  when  the  two 
dignitaries  arrived,  she  had  gone  out.  The  ambas 
sador  expressed  regret  at  not  finding  her  at  home. 
And  I  did  not  explain  further  than  to  say,  'Mrs. 
Roosevelt  has  gone  out  to  lunch,  Mr.  Ambassador; 
she  is  not  in  the  house.' ' 

With  that  fine  courtesy  which  characterized 
them,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Roosevelt  never  mentioned 
the  affair.  "But,"  adds  my  fun-loving  classmate, 
in  Mr.  Bishop's  narrative,  "apparently  the  Grand 
Duke  and  the  Ambassador  were  not  able  to  conceal 


VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH  349 

their  feelings  and  expressed  their  chagrin  to  a 
sufficient  number  of  people  to  insure  the  matter 
getting  into  the  papers,  which  it  accordingly  did." 

It  is  a  delightful  little  tidbit  of  social  news,  espe 
cially  agreeable  to  democratic  ears.  The  man 
Roosevelt  —  backed  by  his  wife,  who  shared  his  life 
nobly,  beautifully  —  was  a  real  man,  with  a  love  of 
integrity  and  purity  not  only  in  his  public  career, 
in  brilliant  letters  and  speeches,  but  also  in  his 
private  life,  down  through  the  simple,  personal 
details  of  his  daily  living.  Thirty  years  ago  I 
heard  President  Arthur  Hadley  of  Yale  say  in  a 
public  address  upon  social  problems,  "Society 
alone  has  the  power  to  correct  the  evils  which  so 
ciety  creates."  True  words  which  have  remained 
in  my  memory.  And  while  many  good  people, 
themselves  high-minded,  hesitate  or  fail  to  make 
a  stand  against  social  moral  laxities  which  they 
personally  —  and  feebly  —  disapprove,  not  so  acted 
Theodore  Roosevelt.  The  moral  idealism  of  the 
man  was  fundamental;  it  was  expressed  not  only 
in  words,  as  he  stood  on  the  platform  with  applause 
punctuating  his  appeals  for  truth  and  justice,  but 
in  deeds,  even  amid  the  smallest  punctilios  of  a 
clean,  cultivated,  social  code. 

In  the  earlier  and  even  in  the  mid-life  periods  of 
my  great  friend's  career,  his  record  stands,  in  my 
memory,  as  in  the  black-and-white  sketches  of 


350     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

deeds  and  facts.  But  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life 
stand  recorded,  for  me,  in  colors  —  the  colors  of 
emotion;  I  knew  his  preeminence  of  character;  I 
saw  him  developing  it,  through  strenuous  years  — 
intellectually  even  if  not  morally,  for  he  was  born 
with  an  unchanging  passion  for  truth  and  right  — 
until  he  became  the  greatest  living  man  of  his  time. 
And  his  greatness  was  not  because  of  the  extreme 
development  of  any  single  quality,  but  because  he 
had  all  the  high  qualities  of  other  men,  only  most 
of  those  qualities,  in  him,  were  larger  and  stronger 
than  in  them.  Thus  he  was  not  a  prodigy,  not  an 
abnormal  type;  he  was  a  superman;  he  was  first  a 
man  and  then  something  more  than  other  excellent 
able  men,  around  the  full  periphery  of  his  large, 
rich  nature. 

In  masses  of  vivid  color  come  to  me  those  last 
scenes  of  his  life.  I  am  not  so  much  concerned 
with  the  things  he  did;  but  I  am  deeply  sympa 
thetic  with  his  feelings  as  he  did  them.  I  rejoice, 
for  example,  as  I  look  at  that  fiery  "Barnes  trial" 
in  its  entirety.  It  stands  out,  like  a  battle  scene, 
in  vivid  red,  like  blood.  Roosevelt  had  expressed 
his  opinion  of  William  Barnes's  character  and 
actions  in  plain  Saxon  terms.  Barnes  at  once 
brought  suit  for  libel  against  Roosevelt.  Barnes's 
counsel,  William  M.  Ivins,  declared  that  among 
Roosevelt's  letters  could  be  found  evidence  of 


VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH  351 

methods  similar  to  Barnes's.  He  declared  confi 
dently  to  Elihu  Root,  on  the  eve  of  the  trial,  "I  am 
going  to  Syracuse  to-morrow,  to  nail  Roosevelt's 
hide  to  the  fence."  To  which  boast  astute  Elihu 
Root  replied,  "I  know  Roosevelt,  and  you  want 
to  be  very  sure  that  it  is  Roosevelt's  hide  that  you 
get  on  to  the  fence." 

Results  justified  Root's  warning.  The  trial 
lasted  more  than  a  month.  Ivins  went  over  thou 
sands  of  letters  and  speeches  written  by  Roosevelt 
during  his  public  career,  and  read  selections  from 
them  in  court.  Roosvelt's  marvelous  memory 
showed  itself  when  he  interrupted  the  reading  of 
one  letter,  several  years  old:  "Isn't  there  an  inter 
lineation  there,  which  says  —  so  and  so?"  And  it 
was  there,  and  was  read  out. 

The  whole  country  followed  that  exciting  libel 
suit  with  deep  interest,  and  with  a  confidence  in  the 
defendant's  character  which  the  results  justified. 
Roosevelt's  name  was  on  the  front  page  of  the  news 
papers  day  after  day.  One  of  his  most  inveterate 
enemies  said  bitterly  of  Barnes,  "He  is  the  most 
blundering  lunatic  I  ever  saw.  After  the  unsuc 
cessful  Progressive  campaign  we  had  Roosevelt 
dead  and  buried.  And  now  Barnes  has  not  only 
opened  the  door  for  him  to  come  back,  but  has 
pushed  him  to  the  front  of  the  stage  and  made  him 
a  greater  popular  idol  than  ever." 


352     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

Two  points  connected  with  the  triumphant  vin 
dication  of  Roosevelt  in  that  trial  are  worth  noting. 
First,  when  the  time  for  cross-examination  came, 
he  requested  his  counsel  to  raise  no  objection  to 
any  question  which  might  be  asked  him  by  Ivins. 
There  you  have  the  fearless  Roosevelt,  clear  in 
conscience,  and  self-reliant  as  ever.  He  knew  that 
his  record  was  clean,  and  he  welcomed  all  possible 
inquiries  about  it.  And  the  second  point,  which 
appeals  to  every  paternal  and  maternal  heart,  is 
that  at  the  end  of  the  day  on  which  the  last  of  his 
letters  was  read  in  the  courtroom,  he  said  to  a 
friend,  "It  has  meant  more  to  me  than  anything 
else  in  this  trial,  that  there  is  not  a  single  thing  in 
those  old  letters  of  mine  which  I  am  ashamed  to 
have  my  children  read."  Just,  clean,  honest  living 
it  was,  from  his  great  public  policies,  known  to  all 
men,  down  to  the  smallest  and  most  confidential 
items  of  his  private  correspondence,  even  under  the 
microscope. 

It  might  properly  be  added  that  not  only  did  the 
whole  nation  rejoice  that  Roosevelt  came  through 
the  trial  —  verdict  eleven  to  one  for  acquittal  — 
without  even  the  "smell  of  fire  upon  his  garments"* 
but  defeated  and  disappointed  William  Barnes 
was  presently  won  over  to  a  new  attitude  toward 
the  man  whom  he  had  accused.  Three  years  later, 
when  the  Republican  leaders  of  New  York  wished 


VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH  353 

Roosevelt  to  run  for  the  governorship,  Barnes  was 
with  them;  and  he  said  to  the  reporters,  "No  mat 
ter  what  my  relations  to  Roosevelt  have  been  in  the 
past,  we  need  now  a  man  of  his  integrity,  character 
and  great  foresight." 

It  is  always  pleasant  for  friends  of  two  men  who 
have  been  open  and  intense  rivals  and  enemies  to 
see  them  generously  bury  the  hatchet  and  "make 
up."  Such  a  broad-minded,  warm-hearted  recon 
ciliation  took  place  between  Taft  and  Roosevelt 
in  the  Blackstone  Hotel,  Chicago,  on  a  Sunday  in 
May,  1918.  The  two  strong-natured  men,  for 
merly  friends,  had  become  utterly  estranged  dur 
ing  the  political  campaign  of  1912.  The  epithets 
which  they  hurled  at  each  other  in  the  blinding  heat 
of  that  struggle  now  seem  amusing  only.  But  the 
estrangement  was  deep.  And  the  breach  between 
them  continued  to  exist  through  several  years. 
Friends  of  both,  knowing  their  warm  hearts,  longed 
to  see  them  in  harmony  again.  A  meeting  between 
the  two  was  arranged  at  the  Union  League  Club 
in  New  York.  But  it  amounted  to  little.  The 
time  for  generous  concessions  on  both  sides  was 
not  yet  ripe.  Roosevelt  said  picturesquely,  grimly, 
of  this  meeting  at  the  Club,  "It  was  one  of  those 
friendly  affairs,  where  each  side,  before  entering 
the  meeting  place,  made  sure  its  hardware  was 
in  good  order." 


354     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

Leary  tells  us  that  he  was  drawn  to  the  dining 
room  of  the  Blackstone  Hotel  by  loud  cheers. 
And,  in  a  few  moments,  the  message  sped  through 
the  halls  and  corridors,  "Taft  and  Roosevelt  have 
got  together."  And  that  was  the  situation.  They 
had  happened,  quite  unexpectedly,  to  meet  in  that 
hotel  on  that  day.  And  Time  had  healed  the 
wounds  of  their  former  conflicts.  They  both 
longed  to  be  friends  again.  And  they  became 
friends.  They  beamed  on  each  other  as  they  shook 
hands. 

Later,  as  Roosevelt  went  to  the  railway  station, 
he  expressed  himself  freely  and  joyously  to  Leary. 
"Jack,  I  never  felt  happier  over  anything  in  my 
life.  It  was  splendid  of  Taft." 

Passing  now  to  a  somewhat  different  yet  wholly 
unrelated  side  of  Roosevelt's  character,  I  say  a  few 
things  about  his  religious  faith.  He  went  regularly 
to  church,  at  Washington  and  at  Oyster  Bay,  and 
wherever  it  was  possible.  But  that  fact  does  not 
throw  much  light  on  his  —  or  any  man's  —  real  in 
ner  religious  convictions.  The  habit  and  custom  of 
church -go  ing  may  involve  many  diverse  considera 
tions.  And  what  a  man  really  believes  and  aims  at 
doing  is  hidden  far  within  a  man's  heart.  Roose 
velt  did  unbosom  himself,  however,  now  and  again, 
to  sympathetic  friends. 

To  John  Leary  he  once  said,  "I  am  fond  of  that 


VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH  355 

verse  of  the  prophet  Micah:  'To  do  justly  and  to 
love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God'; 
that,  to  me,  is  the  essence  of  religion."  And  such 
it  was,  in  his  cool,*  calm  moods.  But  in  September, 
1918,  evidently  amid  the  pangs  of  his  heart  over 
the  death  of  his  son  Quentin,  he  wrote  "The  Great 
Adventure."  And  I  know  few  pieces  of  writing, 
in  the  English  tongue,  which  are  loftier  than  this. 
There  is  in  it  the  same  intense  white-heat  of  passion 
which  we  find  in  James  Russell  Lowell's  "Com 
memoration  Ode."  It  almost  clothes  itself  in  a 
garment  of  rhyme  and  rhythm. 

"Only  those  are  fit  to  live  who  do  not  fear  to 
die.  .  .  .  Both  life  and  death  are  parts  of  the 
same  Great  Adventure.  Never  yet  was  worthy 
adventure  worthily  carried  through  by  the  man 
who  put  his  personal  safety  first.  Never  yet  was 
a  country  worth  living  in  unless  its  sons  and  daugh 
ters  would  die  for  it  at  need.  ...  In  America  all 
our  people  are  summoned  to  service  and  sacrifice. 
All  who  give  service  or  stand  ready  for  sacrifice 
are  the  torch-bearers.  We  run,  with  the  torches 
until  we  fall,  content  if  we  can  then  pass  them  to 
the  hands  of  other  runners.  The  torches  whose 
flame  is  brightest  are  borne  by  the  gallant  men  at 
the  front,  and  by  the  gallant  women  whose  hus 
bands  and  lovers,  whose  sons  and  brothers,  are  at 
the  front.  These  men  are  high  of  soul,  as  they 


356     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

face  their  fate  on  the  shell-shattered  earth,  or  in 
the  skies  above,  or  in  the  waters  beneath.  And  no 
less  high  of  soul  are  the  women  with  torn  hearts 
and  shining  eyes,  —  the  girls  whose  boy-lovers  have 
been  struck  down  in  their  golden  morning,  and 
the  mothers  and  wives  to  whom  word  has  been 
brought  that  henceforth  they  must  walk  in  the 
shadow.  These  are  the  torch-bearers.  These  are 
they  who  have  dared  the  Great  Adventure." 

This  is  poetry  of  a  high  order.  Lacking  rigid 
conventional  poetic  form,  it  yet  thrills  with  that 
exaltation  of  soul  which  marks  the  lines  of  the  real 
poets.  Indeed,  what  else  is  it  but  the  mystical 
Faith  of  the  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles? 

The  days  and  the  months  passed,  the  armies  in 
Europe  were  close  to  the  verge  of  exhaustion,  but 
millions  of  fresh  young  warriors  were  hurrying  to 
reach  the  battle  line.  And  Germany  sought  an 
armistice,  —  which  was  granted.  And  the  greatest 
war  of  all  human  history  practically  was  over. 

Through  it  all  Roosevelt  had  expended  his 
energy  bounteously,  in  all  channels  that  were  still 
open  to  him,  the  channel  which  he  had  most  eagerly 
sought  having  been  closed  to  him  by  the  autocrat 
of  the  White  House.  He  had  not  sulked  in  his 
tent,  like  Greek  Achilles,  bitter  with  disappoint 
ment.  But  after  his  rebuff  by  Wilson  he  strove 
indef atigably  for  human  rights  and  national  honor. 


VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH  357 

And,  by  his  own  pure,  high  spirit,  as  well  as  by 
contrast  with  selfish,  sordid  Wilson,  he  grew  in 
popular  favor  rapidly,  day  by  day.  And  had  he 
lived,  he  would  have  been  the  successful  presiden 
tial  candidate  of  the  whole  American  nation  in  1920. 
From  the  crest  of  the  wave  —  as  he  expressed 
it,  in  1910  —  he  had  sunk  into  the  hollow  of  the 
wave  in  1912  and  1913.  Then,  with  the  greatest 
crisis  of  the  world  imminent,  our  greatest  leader 
was  summoned  from  the  wave-hollow;  and  men 
who  had  voted  for  Wilson,  men  who  had  hurled 
harsh  epithets  at  the  Progressive  Leader,  now  as 
one  man  looked  toward  him,  admired  him,  praised 
him  and  almost  worshiped  him.  The  tide  of  popu 
lar  favor,  at  full  in  1910,  ebbed  to  its  lowest  point 
in  1913.  Then,  in  1916,  it  begajn  to  rise;  and  it 
rose  steadily  until  the  day  of  our  illustrious  hero's 
death. 

That  death  came  on  January  6,  1919,  at  his 
dearly  loved  home  at  Oyster  Bay.  He  had  spent 
some  time  at  the  Roosevelt  Hospital  a  short  time 
before,  and,  after  seeming  to  be  dangerously  and 
hopelessly  sick,  had  revived  and  had  gone  to  Saga 
more  Hill.  His  faithful  secretary,  Miss  Josephine 
Strieker,  attended  him  closely  during  those  days 
in  the  hospital.  She  has  described  to  me  some  of 
the  conditions  and  incidents  of  that  illness.  Two 
qualities  in  him  came  out  into  bold  relief,  she  told 


358     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

me.  One  was  his  desire  to  cause  as  little  trouble 
to  doctors  and  nurses  as  possible.  Even  when 
stricken  with  discomfort  and  pain,  he  was  unselfish, 
and  often  expressed  sympathy  for  those  who  cared 
for  him. 

His  other  characteristic  quality,  which  Miss 
Strieker  set  before  me,  was  his  insistence  that  the 
frequent  bulletins  which  she  prepared  and  gave 
out  should  express  the  exact  facts  of  his  case.  Once 
or  twice  the  doctors  were  inclined  to  modify  or 
suppress  some  of  the  severest  statements.  For 
they  knew  that  those  bulletins  were  being  tele 
graphed  and  cabled  over  the  whole  civilized  world. 
And  they  did  not  like  to  arouse  too  much  public 
excitement.  When  Roosevelt  learned  this,  he 
protested;  he  insisted  that  the  truth,  the  whole 
truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth  should  go  into 
those  bulletins.  And  his  wishes  were  heeded. 

It  is  a  custom  among  Harvard  graduate-classes, 
when  a  member  of  the  class  dies,  for  the  Class  Sec 
retary  to  send  a  notice  of  the  death,  with  a  few 
salient  facts,  to  every  other  living  member  of  the 
class.  When  Roosevelt's  death  came,  on  January 
6,  1919,  at  Oyster  Bay,  our  Class  Secretary,  John 
Woodbury,  sent  out  the  usual  notice;  but,  inste^jl 
of  giving  the  customary  facts  about  our  classmate's 
career,  he  sent  to  us  this  citation  from  Bunyan's 
"Pilgrim's  Progress"; 


VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH  359 

"After  this  it  was  noised  abroad  that  Valiant  for 
Truth  was  taken  with  a  summons,  and  had  this  for 
a  token  that  the  summons  was  true,  that  his  pitcher 
was  broken  at  the  fountain.  When  he  understood 
it,  he  called  for  his  friends  and  told  them  of  it. 
Then  said  he,  'I  am  going  to  my  Father's.  And 
though  with  great  difficulty  I  have  got  hither,  yet 
now  I  do  not  repent  me  of  all  my  trouble.  My 
sword  I  give  to  him  that  shall  succeed  me  in  my 
pilgrimage,  and  my  courage  and  skill  to  him  that 
can  attain  it.  My  marks  and  scars  I  carry  with 
me,  to  be  a  witness  for  me,  that  I  have  fought  His 
battles,  who  will  be  my  rewarder.' ' 


Thus  came  to  Theodore  Roosevelt  the  end  of  the 
earthly  life.  Our  nation  and  the  whole  world  felt 
a  pang  as  the  sad  news  went  forth.  From  the  lips 
and  pens  of  longtime  friends  —  and  even  former 
foes  —  poured  tributes  of  praise  for  this  remarkable 
human  being.  For  all  felt,  as  they  made  full  sur 
vey,  standing  amid  the  shadows,  of  Theodore 
Roosevelt's  earnest,  noble  life,. that  he  had  proved 
himself  a  true  man,  a  high,  fine  ideal  of  American 
c  izenship. 

For  myself,  although  deeply  mourning  his  death, 
and  wondering  at  his  inexhaustible  courage  and  his 
unbroken  fortitude,  I  am  assured  that  his  life  was 


360     ROOSEVELT:  THE  HAPPY  WARRIOR 

a  happy  one.     To  me  he  is  —  and  shall  ever  be 
the  Happy  Warrior. 

"Who  is  the  Happy  Warrior?  ...  He 

Whom  neither  shape  of  danger  can  dismay, 
Nor  thought  of  tender  happiness  betray; 

Finds  comfort  in  himself  and  in  his  cause; 
And,  while  the  mortal  mist  is  gathering,  draws 
His  breath  in  confidence  of  Heaven's  applause: 
This  is  the  Happy  Warrior;  this  is  He 
That  every  Man  in  arms  should  wish  to  be." 


INDEX 


INDEX 


ABBOTT,  LAWRENCE,  on  two  hu 
morous  situations,  244;  with 
Roosevelt  at  Khartoum,  288, 
289,  290 

Abbott,    Lyman,    277;    on    Mexi 
can  problem,  334 
Abuse,  Roosevelt's  feeling  toward, 

263,  264 
Achilles,  356 

Action,  keynote  of  his  life,  103 
Adullam's   Cave,   resemblance  to, 
243;  Progressives  like  company 
in,   325 

African  trip,  279-283 
Aggressive   quality  in   Roosevelt, 

15 
Ahlwardt,     Rector,     anti-Semitic 

demagogue,  124 
Akeley,  Carl,  271 
Alaska,  203 
Algeciras,  203 

Alger,  Secretary  Russell  A.,  143 
Allen,    Frederick    H.,    letter    to 

Oilman,  340-344 

Ambition,  analysis  of  his,  194-196 
Americanism,    speech    at    Union 

League  Club,  98 
Ananias  Club,  298 
"Ancient  Irish  Sagas,  The", 

Roosevelt,  253 

Andrews  Creek,  camp  at,  94 
"Applied  morals",  329 
Art  Club,  member  of,  42 
Arthur    and    the    Round    Table, 

King,  23 
Arthur,    Vice-President    Chester 

A.,  202 
Assembly,  elected  to  New  York, 

70 

Astuteness,    reputation    for,    295, 
296 


Athletic  Association,  member  of, 

42 

Athletics,   interest    in    and    devo 
tion   to,    17,   32,   et   seq.;    keen 
interest  in,  269 
Atlanta  Constitution,  244 
Aunt  Anna.  See  BULLOCK,  ANKA 
"Autobiography",  the,  3,  64,  76; 
quoted,  88,   131,  203,  215,  227, 
267,  268 

BACOX,  ROBERT,  272,  273 

Balboa,  225 

Barnes,    William,    350,    351,    352, 

353 

Bas-relief  of  Roosevelt,  162 
Bear,  encounter  with  grizzly,  106 
"Ben  Butler",  accident  when  rid 
ing,  92 

"Black  Horse  Cavalry",  74 
Blackstone    Hotel,    Chicago,    353 
"Big  Business",  203 

Bishop,  Joseph  B.,  95,  125; 
quoted,  139,  252,  253,  259,  277, 
347,  348 

Bolton,  Charles  K.,  332 

Bok,  Edward  W.,  244,  245 

Boris,  Grand  Duke,  348 

Boston   Evening   Transcript,   244 

Boston  Herald,  243 

Boulanger,  General,  163 

Boutros  Pasha,  293 

Boxing,  keen  interest  in,  36 

"Boy's  Life  of  Roosevelt,  The", 
Hagerdorn,  quoted,  170 

Brattle  Street,  Number  62,  Cam 
bridge,  43,  58 

Brazil,  trip  to,  331  et  seq. 

Brooks,  Phfllips,  189,  299 

Brooks,  Preston  S.,  74 

Browning,  Robert,  135,  304 


363 


364 


INDEX 


Brownsville  affair,  249;  Roose 
velt's  settlement  of,  251 

Bryan,  William  J.,  137 

Bryce,  James,  observation  of,  197 

Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  President  Mc- 
Kinley  assassinated  at,  199; 
Vice-President  summoned  to, 
199;  Roosevelt  takes  oath  as 
President  at,  200 

Bulbs  and  blossoms,  12 

Bullock,  Anna  (Aunt  Anna), 
early  instruction  by,  20 

Bullock,  Seth,  290,  301 

Bunyan,  John,  358,  359 

Burroughs,  John,  on  Roosevelt's 
knowledge  of  birds,  4 

CAIRO,   EGYPT,  daring   speech   at, 

283 
California,   speech   at   University 

of,  226 

"Call  of  the  Wild",  77 
Cambridge,     England,     reception 

at,  279 
Capital,  235 
Capital       punishment,       attitude 

toward,  176 
Carlyle,       Thomas,       Roosevelt's 

opinion  of,  231 
Carow,       Edith       Kermit.       See 

ROOSEVELT,       EDITH        KERMIT 

(Mrs.  Theodore,  nee  Carow) 
Century  Magazine,  253 
Chaffee,  General  Adna  R.,  151 
Character,   unfolding  of  his,  74, 

75;  the  rebuilding  of  his,  131, 

132 

Charter  Revision  Committee,  129 
Cheney,  Albert  Loren,  302 
Chittenden,   Lucius   E.,   comment 

on  Lincoln  "Memories",  2 
Choate,   Joseph    H.,    66;    address 

in  London,  299;  on  Roosevelt's 

home-coming,  303,  344,  345 
Church,  regular  in  attendance  at, 

354 

Civil  Service  Commission,  ap 
pointed  to,  103,  104;  service  on, 

104-117 
Civil    Service    Reform,   his   work 

for,  103-117 
Clark,   E.   E.,   214 


Class  of  '80,  24-40;  its  claim  to 
fame,  24;  Roosevelt  on  Coal 
Strike  at  reunion  of,  215,  259; 
twenty-fifth  anniversary  of, 
271-274;  dinner  at  Hotel 
Somerset,  273;  secretary's  no 
tice  to,  358 

Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty,  225 

Clemenceau,   Georges,  329 

Cleveland,  Ex-President  Grover, 
213,  249 

Clubs,  membership  in,  42,  59 

Coal  Strike,  settlement  of  the, 
211-214,  255 

Cody,    William,   300 

Collins,  "Subby,"  encounter  with, 
74 

Colombia,  225,  226,  227 

Colorado,  hunting  trip  to,  197 

Columbus,  Ohio,  speech  at,  313 

Combat,  love  for  righteous,  11, 
14,  15 

"Commemoration  Ode'',  Lowell, 
355 

Constant,  Baron  d'Estournelles 
de,  letter  to,  234 

Corporations,  reforming  laws  re 
lating  to,  as  Governor,  169 

Correspondence,  volume  of,  288, 
289 

Courage,  before  hostile  audience, 
67,  190;  in  action  in  Cuba,  148, 
149 

Cowboy  life,  76-95 

Cowboy,  treatment  of  the  dis 
honest,  87 

Crane,  Winthrop  Murray,  346 

Croker,  Richard,  so-called  boss 
of  Tammany,  166 

Cuba,  unbearable  conditions  in, 
140;  return  from,  163 

Cunningham,  with  Roosevelt  in 
Africa,  281 

Curzon,  Lord,  280 

DAKOTA  TER.,  76-95 

Davis,  Jefferson,  correspondence 
with,  95,  96 

"Days",  Emerson,  236 

Dayton,  Judge,  277 

De  Camp,  Joseph,  paints  por 
trait  of  Roosevelt,  259-265 


INDEX 


365 


Delavan  House,  New  York,  en 
counter  at  entrance  to,  74 

Denver,  Col.,  bold  speech  at,  190 

Dewey,  Admiral  George,  quoted, 
140,  219 

Dining  club,  interest  in  his,  42- 
44 

Diplomacy,  in  Western  life,  88 

D.  K.  Society,  member  of  the, 
42,  54 

Dobbs  Ferry,  amusing  prank  at, 
9 

Dow,  William,  78 

Dress,  innate  good  taste  in,  70, 
71 

Duel,  a  threatened,  86,  227 

Dunne,  Finley  P.  ("Mr.  Dooley"), 
letter  to,  214 

Duvide,  Rio  da.  See  RIVER  OF 
DOUBT 

"EDUCATION    OF    HENRY    ADAM;S, 

The",  quoted,  191,  192 
Edward  VII,  King,  Roosevelt  at 

obsequies    of,    294 
Egypt,  first  trip  to,  20,  283 
Effectives,  on  rank-list  in  college, 

60 

Eliot,    Charles    W.,    amusing    in 
cident  with,  47 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  236 
Employers'  Liability  Law,  256 
Energy,    dynamic    factor    of    his 

life,  21;  his  boundless,  97 
England,  visit  to,  293-295 
English    composition,    not    taken 

while  in  college,  60 
Europe,  first  trip  to,  20;  second 

visit,    20;    in,    with    bride,    62, 

100,    101;    return   from   Africa 

through,  284-295 
Exchange    Club,    Boston,    speech 

at,  37 
Eyesight,  defection,  4,  17 

"FAIRBANKS   INCIDENT",   the,  285 

"Fair  play",  love  of,  36 

Fence,       picket,       around       the 

"Yard",  58 
Finance  Association,  member  of 

the,  42 


Fiske,  Rear  Admiral  Bradley  A., 
his  testimonial,  270 

Ford  Franchise  Bill,  the  fight  for 
the,  170,  171 

Forest  Reserves,  255 

"Four  Eyes",  a  Western  sobri 
quet,  80,  88;  disagreeable  en 
counter  over,  81 

Francis  of  Assisi,  Saint,  329 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  287 

Frederick   the   Great,   328 

French  language,  familiarity 
with,  20 

"From  Midshipman  to  Rear  Ad 
miral",  Fiske,  270 

GALAHAD,  SIR,  75 

"Gang,  The",  230 

Gavin,  Tony,  letter  to  Gilman, 
152-157 

Germany,  and  Venezuelan  arbi 
tration,  218;  visit  to,  290-292, 
333,  356 

Gilman,  Bradley,  first  impressions 
of  Roosevelt,  1 ;  long  acquaint 
ance  with,  2;  analysis  of 
Roosevelt's  character  and  per 
sonality,  2  et  seq.;  admiration 
and  devotion  for  Roosevelt, 
61 ;  correspondence  with  Roose 
velt,  65;  Roosevelt's  literary 
work,  102,  103;  on  opinion  of 
some  peace  advocates,  137;  an 
alysis  of  Roosevelt's  ambition, 
194-196;  the  Presidential  Pla 
teau,  201-228;  on  Roosevelt's 
desire  for  reelection,  229-235; 
view  of  Roosevelt's  renuncia 
tion,  276-279;  the  break  with 
Taft,  312-315;  impressions  of 
Progressive  convention,  316;  an 
ardent  Progressive,  319;  ex 
planation  of  reports  of  intoxi 
cation,  323-325;  bitterness  of 
defeat  of  Progressives,  326; 
Roosevelt's  religious  faith,  354 

Glee  Club,  an  associate  member 
of  the,  42 

Goethals,  Colonel  George  W., 
228 

Gordon,  Charles  George,  "Chi 
nese",  329 


366 


INDEX 


Gorman,  Senator  Arthur  P., 
Roosevelt's  controversy  with, 
112,  113 

Goudy,  Dr.  Henry,  280 

Governor  of  New  York,  wanted 
by  Republicans  for,  163,  164; 
nominated  for,  165;  elected, 
166;  opposed  by  Independ 
ents,  166,  167;  energy  and  in 
dustry  as,  168;  four  most  im 
portant  measures,  168,  169; 
opposition  of  the  bosses,  169, 
170;  the  fight  for  the  bills,  170- 
173;  attitude  toward  capital 
punishment,  175;  enjoyment  of 
the  office  of,  177;  home  life 
while,  177-181;  end  of  term, 
182,  183;  desire  for  second 
term,  183 

Grant,  Judge  Robert,  Roosevelt 
at  home  of,  309-312 

Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  202,  284 

"Great  Adventure,  The",  Roose 
velt,  quoted,  355,  356 

Great  Britain,  and  Venezuelan 
arbitration,  218 

Greek,  lack  of  interest  in,   60 

Greeley,  Louis,  273 

Grey,  Earl,  3,  294 

Gridiron  Club,  247 

Griffin,  Hank,  altercation  with, 
105 

Grosvenor,  Congressman,  his  at 
tack  on  Civil  Service  Reform, 
111;  unavailing  call  at  White 
House,  160 

Guild,  Curtis,  in  campaign  of 
1900,  188,  189,  197 

Guildhall    Address,    London,    293 

HAAKON  VII,  King  of  Norway, 

290 

Hadley,  Arthur  Twining,  349 
Hagerdorn,       Herman,       "Boy's 

Life  of  Roosevelt",  quoted,  170 
Hale,    Edward    E.,    quoted,    47, 

196 
Hale,  Ellen  D.,  paints  portrait  at 

White  House,  221 
Hale,  Matthew,  amusing  incident 

at    White    House,    205;    letter 

from,  237 


Halford,    E.    W.,   115 
Handwriting,      Roosevelt's,      113, 

114 

Hanna,  Senator  Mark,  233,  234 
"Happy   Warrior",   the,  98,   134, 
181,  232,  328,  360 

Harding,  Senator  Warren  G., 
338 

"Haroun-al-Roosevelt",  121 

Harrison,  President  Benjamin, 
appoints  Roosevelt  to  Civil 
Service  Commission,  103,  104 

Hart,  Albert  Bushnell,  295;  on 
methods  of  Republican  Con 
vention  of  1912,  317-319 

Harvard  Advocate,  28;  editor  of, 
42 

Harvard  Crimson,  28 

Harvard  Graduates'  Magazine, 
article  on  Roosevelt's  studies, 
59,  60 

Harvard  Union,  public  debate  at, 
39,  40 

Harvard  University,  Roosevelt 
at,  1;  habits  of  life  while  at, 
24  et  seq.;  the  class  of  '80,  24- 
40;  his  rank  in  class,  31;  ig 
noring  classroom  routine,  38- 
39 

Hasty  Pudding  Club,  27,  42,  52- 
54 

Havana,  sinking  of  battleship 
Maine  at,  141 

Hay,  John,  quoted,  141 ;  humor 
ous  letter  to  Ambassador 
White,  184,  235,  236;  gives 
Lincoln  ring  to  Roosevelt,  237 

Hay-Herran  Treaty,  225 

Hay-Pauncefote  Treaty,  225 

Hendricks,  Vice-P  resident 
Thomas  A.,  107 

Hess,  Jake,  ward  politician,  70 

Hewitt,  Abram  S.,  defeats  Roose 
velt  for  mayoralty,  100 

Hill,  Professor  A.  S.,  55,  56,  57 

History,  not  taken  by  Roosevelt 
in  college,  60 

"History  of  New  York  City", 
Roosevelt,  132 

"History  of  the  Naval  War  of 
1812",  Roosevelt,  63,  102,  135 

Hitchcock,  Frank  H.,  277 


INDEX 


367 


Holleben,  Dr.  von,  German  Am 
bassador  and  Venezuelan  arbi 
tration,  218 
Holmes,   Oliver  Wendell,  Doctor 

Hale's  opinion  of,  196 
Hong  Kong,  140 
Hooper,  William,  273 
Hotel  Somerset,  Boston,  273 
Howe,  M.  A.  De  Wolfe,  270 
Humor,  keen  sense  of,  9-11,  13, 
14;  his  quality  of,   158 

IDEALIST,  AN,   116,   117 

Iglehart,  Doctor,  266 

Illinois    Bar    Association,    dinner 

to  Roosevelt,  336 
Inauguration,  236-238 
Independence,    of    opinions    and 

actions  of  others,  26 
Independents,  opposed  to  Roose 
velt  for  Governor,  166,  167 
Indianola,    Miss.,    post    office    at, 

206 

Influence,  his,  94 
Initiative   and   Referendum,    128, 

314 

Institute,  The,  member  of,  42 
Insurance- Bill,  fight  for  the,  171- 

173 

"Interests",  the,  279 
"Internationalism",  238 
Intoxication,     malicious     reports 

of,  322-325 

Isle  La  Motte,  Vt,  199 
Italy,  visits,  284-287 
Ivins,  William  M.,  350,  351,  352 

JACKSON,  ANDREW,  106 

James,  Professor  William, 
quoted,  67,  68,  134,  298 

Janus,  Temple  of,  141 

Japan,  238 

Jordan,  David  Starr,  wide  range 
of  Roosevelt's  interests,  266, 
267 

Judiciary,  denunciation  of  a  cor 
rupt,  71,  72 

KANEKO,  VISCOUNT  KENTARO, 
Gilman's  interview  with,  239; 
at  Oyster  Bay,  240 


Kansas   City  Star,  editorials   for 

the,  347 
Khartoum,   283 
Kipling,  Rudyard,  121;  letter  to 

Brander  Matthews,  295 
Knowlton,     Judge  Marcus  P.,  on 

Woodrow  Wilson,  150,  339 

LABOR,  235 

Labor  and  Capital,  209;  and  the 

Nobel  Peace  Prize,  243 
Labor  legislation,  203 
"Labors  of  Hercules",  118 
Ladies'  Home  Journal,  244,  145 
Lambert,  Doctor  Alexander,  217, 

218,  253,  259 

Lansing,  Secretary  Robert,  339 
Latin,  lack  of  interest  in,  60 
Laughter,   whole-hearted,   158 
Law,  begins  and  abandons  study 

of,  64;  contemplates  study  of, 

198 

Lawrence,   Bishop   William,  274 
Lawton,  General  Henry  W.,  151 
Leary,    Jr.,    John,    characteristic 

conversation   with,   8;   explains 

reports     of     intoxication,     324, 

335,  336,  354 
Lee,      Alice      Hathaway.        See 

ROOSEVELT,    ALICE     HATHAWAY 

(Mrs.  Theodore,  nee  Lee) 
Legal     conventions,     repugnance 

to,  64;  caustic  speech  on,  66 
Leishman,  John  G.  A.,  284 
Lesseps,  Count  Ferdinand  de,  224 
Leupp,  Francis  E.,  204 
Lewis,  William  Draper,  "Life  of 

Theodore    Roosevelt",    quoted, 

57,    194 
Libel,    suit    against    editor    for, 

323 

Life,  his  view  of  the  larger,  69 
"Life    of    Theodore    Roosevelt", 

Lewis,  quoted,  57,  194 
Lincoln,   Abraham,   comment  on, 

2,  75,  146,  201,  202;  ring,  237, 

252,  329 

Literary  work,  63,  100-101-103 
Little  Missouri  River,  76,  77,  78, 

82,  90,  94 

Livingstone,    David,    "Missionary 
Travels  in  Africa",  6 


368 


INDEX 


Lobsters,  amusing  incident  with, 
4 

Lodge,  Senator  Henry  Cabot, 
135;  letter  to,  quoted,  183, 
203,  211 

Lodging-rooms,  closes  police,  129 

Loeb,  Jr.,  William,  Secretary, 
200,  244 

Logic,  high  standing  in,  in  col 
lege,  60 

Long,  Secretary  John  D.,  135; 
quoted  by  Lodge,  135,  136 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  64,  355 

MCKELWAY,  ST.  CLAIR,  at  Union 
League  Club,  98,  99 

McKinley,  President  William, 
115;  appoints  Roosevelt  Assist 
ant  Secretary  of  Navy,  135, 
142,  143;  assassination  of,  199; 
death  of,  200;  policies  contin 
ued  by  Roosevelt,  202 

Maine,  U.  S.  battleship,  141 

"Man  on  Horseback",  the,  163 

Marriage,  first,  62;  second,  100 

Marryat,  Frederick,  18 

Matterhorn,  climbs  the,  62 

Matthews,  Brander,  295 

Mayflower,  the  presidential 
yacht,  242,  269 

Mayoralty  of  New  York  City, 
nominated  for,  100;  defeated 
for,  100 

Medora,  Dakota  Ter.,  94 

Memorial  Hall,  1;  speech  on 
Commencement  Day,  1905,  66; 
address  in,  274,  275 

Mendacity,   charges   of,   296,   297 

Merrifield,  William  J.,  incidents 
in  ranch  life  with  Roosevelt, 
90  et  seq. 

Merry  del  Val,  Raphael,  pontifi 
cal  secretary,  286 

Metaphysics,  high  standing  in,  in 
college,  60 

Metropolitan  Magazine,  connec 
tion  with,  346 

Meyer,  Postmaster  General 
George  von  L.,  270 

Mice,  youthful  interest  in  White, 
5,  6 

"Mighty  Three",  the,  325 


Milwaukee,  Wis.,  attempt  to 
assassinate  Roosevelt  in,  320 

"Missionary  Travels  in  Africa", 
Livingstone,  6 

Mississippi,  hunting  trip  to,  259 

"Mr.  Dooley".  See  DUNNE,  FIN- 
LEY  P. 

Mitchell,  John,  212 

Mombasa,  280 

Monroe  Doctrine,  and  Venezu 
elan  arbitration,  218 

Montauk  Point,  arrival  from 
Cuba  at,  163 

Monterey,  Cal.,  Roosevelt,  Moody 
and  Stow  at,  161,  162 

Moody,  Secretary  William  H., 
161,  162 

Moosehead  Lake,  boyish  encoun 
ter  on  trip  to,  15 

Morale  of  the  Rough  Riders,  151 

Moral  idealism,  his,  328 

Morley,  John,  22;  amusing  inci 
dent  at  White  House,  205,  206 

"Morton  Hall  Crowd",  send 
Roosevelt  to  the  Assembly,  70 

Muir,  John,  82 

Murray,  Joe,  friendly  guidance 
of,  69,  108 

"Museum  of  Natural  History", 
Roosevelt^,  5,  19 

NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE,  22,  328 
"Nationalism",  238 
Natural  History,  honorable  men 
tion  in,  31;   ranks  high  in,  60 
Natural    History    Society,    mem 
ber  of  the,  42 

Nature  study,  interest  in,  3,  4 
Navy,    appointed    Assistant    Sec 
retary  of,  135;  idea  of  fighting 
efficiency,     139;     foresees     war 
with    Spain,    140;    a    touch    of 
humor   at   the   last,   142;   more 
than  double  in   size,  255;   fleet 
circumnavigates  the   globe,  255 
Negro  problem,  203,  204,  207 
"Newspaper  Cabinet",  335 
New  York  City,  residence  in,  63; 
visits    to,    95;    return    to,    97; 
nominated    for   mayor   of,   97; 
police    commissioner    of,    119- 
132 


INDEX 


569 


New  York  Herald,  244 

Nile  River,  interest  in  bird  life  of, 

20 

Nobel   Peace  Prize,  243 
North    Pole,   like    Peary   at   the, 

305 

OAKLEY  COUNTRY  CLUB,  272 

Ober's  restaurant,  44 

O'Brien,  Robert  L.,  letter  to  Oil 
man,  243-247 

Ohl,  J.  K.,  244 

"Old  Guard,  The",  230,  315 

"Oliver  Cromwell",  Roosevelt, 
168 

Olney,  Richard,  247-249 

Opdycke,  L.  E.,  274 

Oyster  Bay,  101;  home  life  at, 
177-180;  Viscount  Kaneko  at, 
240;  Roman  Catholic  clergy 
men  at,  286,  297,  324,  332,  357 

PAIN,  ENDURANCE  of,  92,  93 

Panama,  203 

Panama  Canal,  esteemed  his 
greatest  achievement,  223;  as 
conceived  and  executed  by, 
225-228,  255 

Pandora's   box,  21 

Parker  House,  Boston,  272 

Pastimes,  youthful,   17 

"Patriot",  Browning,  304 

People,  the,  faith  in,  70,  129;  ap 
peals  to,  128;  reliance  on,  for 
reelection,  233 ;  reached 
through  the  Press,  336 

Perdicaris-Raisuli  affair,  219, 
220 

Peter  the  Hermit,  182 

Pets,  fondness  for,  266,  267,  268 

Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  mem 
ber  of  the,  31,  42 

Philippines,  255 

Photograph,  his  class,  26,  27 

Physical  development,  32  et  seq. 

"Pigskin  Library",  the,  282 

"Pilgrim's  Progress,  The",  Bun- 
yan,  358,  359 

Pius  X,  desire  to  meet  Pope,  284, 
285 

Platt,  Senator  Thomas  C.,  104, 
164,  165,  166,  168,  169,  170,  171, 
172,  173,  174,  183-187,  190 


Poker,  political  bluif  like  game 
of,  173 

Police  Commissioner,  appointed, 
119;  work  as,  119-132 

Political  Economy,  a  leader  in, 
in  college,  60 

Porcellian  Club,  member  of  the, 
42 

Portrait,  painted  by  Ellen  Hale, 
221;  Roosevelt  presents  a,  to 
Grace  Church,  Washington, 
223;  painted  by  De  Camp, 
259 

Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  Treaty  of, 
240;  Peace  Conference  at, 
255 

Prayer,  an  amusing  childish,  7 

"Preaching",  sound,  pure  advice 
in  his,  157 

Precedence,  instances  of  the  eti 
quette  of,  241-243 

Preparedness,  his  work  for, 
137 

President,  succeeds  McKinley  as, 
200;  to  continue  McKinley's 
policies  as,  202;  liking  for  the 
work,  217;  confidence  in  the 
new,  218;  attendance  at  church, 
222;  desire  for  reelection,  229- 
235;  elected,  236;  inauguration, 
236,  237;  as  peacemaker  fin 
Russo-Japanese  War,  238-240; 
Nobel  Peace  Prize,  243;  action 
in  Brownsville  affair,  249-252; 
capacity  for  work,  253,  254; 
what  he  accomplished  while, 
254-256 

Presidential  plateau,  201-228 

Press,  relations  with  reporters  of, 
175,  335;  opposed  by,  in  Pro 
gressive  campaign,  321;  their 
feeling  for,  336 

Proctor,  John  R.,  106 

Progressive  Party,  convention  of, 
70,  307;  convention  of,  316- 
319;  campaign  of  1912,  319- 
325;  defeated,  315;  character 
of  the  convention,  316;  reason 
for  the  "bolt",  318,  319;  Press 
against  the,  321;  the  company 
in  Adullam's  Cave,  325;  bitter 
ness  of  defeat,  326 


370 


INDEX 


QUAY,  SENATOR  MATTHEW  S'., 
215;  last  meeting  with,  216 

Quigg,  Lemuel  E.,  164;  interview 
on  governorship,  165 

Quirinal,  the,  287 

RANCH  LIFE,  76-95 

Ranlett,  F.  J.,  on  Roosevelt's 
studies,  59,  60 

Raphael,  Otto,  131 

Reading,  love  for,  32 

Recall  of  judicial  decisions,  65, 
313 

Referendum,  314 

Reform,  teamwork  necessary  in, 
76 

Reid,  Mayne,  6 

Remington,  Frederic,  79 

Republican  Party,  need  of 
Roosevelt  for  state  campaign, 
163;  convention  of  1900,  185- 
187;  convention  of  1908,  276; 
methods  of  convention  of  1912, 
317-319 

Rhetoric,  high  standing  in,  in  col 
lege,  60 

Rhodes,  James  Ford,  opinion  of 
Roosevelt,  326,  327 

Right,  love  of  a  fight  for  the,  162 

Ridicule,  his  feeling  toward,  263, 
264 

Rifle  Club,  member  of  the,  42 

Riis,  Jacob,  anecdote  of  Roose 
velt's  childhood,  6,  77,  121; 
quoted,  122,  123,  126,  132;  in 
campaign  for  governorship, 
165;  suggests  Tenement  House 
Commission  Bill,  169;  urges 
commutation  of  death  sentence, 
176 

Rio  Janeiro,  331 

River  of  Doubt,  the,  331,  333 

Robinson,  Corinne  Roosevelt  (sis 
ter  of  Theodore),  incident  of 
speech  at  Union  League  Club, 
98,99,  100;  letter  to,  174 

Roman    Forum,    130 

Rondon,  Colonel,  331 

Roosevelt,  Alice  Hathaway  (Mrs. 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  nee  Lee), 
57;  marriage,  62;  death,  68;  her 
husband's  grief,  77 


Roosevelt,  Edith  Kermit  (Mrs. 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  nee  Ca- 
row),  marriage,  100;  on  in 
auguration  day,  237,  348 

Roosevelt,  Elliot  (brother  of 
Theodore),  76 

Roosevelt,  Kermit  (son  of  Theo 
dore),  with  father  in  Africa, 
281 

Roosevelt,  Martha,  Mrs.  Theodore 
(mother  of  Theodore),  com 
ment  on  her  venturesome  son, 
6;  her  sense  of  humor,  7;  her 
son's  boyish  prank,  10;  death, 
68;  her  son's  grief,  77 

Roosevelt,  Theodore  (father  of 
Theodore),  only  man  Roose 
velt  ever  feared,  7;  sympa 
thetic  interest  in  son's  pas 
times,  16,  17 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  Oilman's 
first  impressions  of,  1,  2; 
"threads"  of  his  character,  3-5; 
John  Burroughs'  opinion  of, 
4;  amusing  incidents  of  child 
hood,  4-10;  defective  eyesight, 
4;  his  "Museum  of  Natural 
History",  5;  a  youthful  es 
capade,  6;  the  remonstrant's 
prayer,  7;  instinct  for  retalia 
tion,  7-8;  sense  of  humor,  8-11, 
13,  14;  boyhood  development, 
12-13,  15;  his  love  for  combat, 
15;  physical  development,  16- 
17;  rowing  a  favorite  pastime, 
17-18;  "self-made",  18-19;  tim 
idity  overcome  by  will,  19; 
familiarity  with  French,  20; 
two  trips  to  Europe,  20;  the 
dominant  quality,  21-23;  the 
Class  of  '80,  24-40;  its  title 
to  fame,  24;  his  life  in  college, 
24-25;  personal  appearance,  25; 
self-reliance  and  independence, 
26;  earnestness  in  debate,  27- 
28;  photograph  of,  28;  rescue 
of  horse,  29;  torchlight  parade, 
29;  studies  and  standing  in  col 
lege,  31-32;  athletics,  32;  Doc 
tor  Sargent's  report  on,  33- 
34;  interest  in  sparring,  36-37; 
innovations  in  the  classroom, 


INDEX 


371 


Roosevelt,  Theodore  (Continued) 
38-39;  club  membership,  41-42; 
editor  of  Harvard  Advocate, 
42;  his  dining  club,  42-44; 
Charles  G.  Washburn's  early 
estimate  of,  46;  his  shyness,  46- 
47;  Sunday  School  teacher,  49- 
51;  qualities  mutually  antag 
onistic,  51-53;  youthful  indig 
nation,  56;  the  picket  fence, 
58;  studies  and  standing,  59- 
61;  first  marriage,  62;  visits 
Europe,  62;  climbs  Matterhorn, 
62;  the  crucial  period,  63; 
choice  of  profession,  63-64; 
antipathy  to  legal  methods,  64- 
67;  "twiceborn",  67-69;  initia 
tion  to  politics,  69-70;  elected 
to  the  Assembly,  70;  word  for 
reform,  71-74;  in  cowboy  land, 
76-95;  disappointment  in  re 
form  work,  76;  death  of  wife 
and  mother,  77;  asthmatic  trou 
ble,  77;  his  ranch  home,  78; 
duties  and  pleasures  of  ranch 
life,  80;  experiences  with  cow 
boys,  80-S1;  "The  Wilderness 
Hunter"  quoted,  82;  unique 
hotel  experience,  84;  cartoonist 
humor,  85;  the  "call-down" 
given,  85;  the  proposed  duel, 
"with  rifles",  86;  the  "square 
deal"  exemplified,  86;  a  West 
ern  story  at  the  Sorbonne,  87- 
88;  his  tactfulness,  88-89;  a 
sympathetic  nature,  90;  on  the 
round-up,  91;  endurance  of 
pain,  92-93;  influence  with  his 
men,  94;  trips  to  New  York,  95; 
correspondence  with  Jefferson 
Davis,  95-96;  question  of  the 
mayoralty,  97;  debate  with  St. 
Clair  McKelway,  98-99;  nom 
inated  for  Mayor  of  New  York, 
100;  defeated  by  Hewitt,  100; 
visits  England,  100;  second 
marriage,  in  London,  100;  a 
happy  marriage,  101 ;  takes  up 
residence  at  Sagamore  Hill, 
101 ;  resumes  literary  work,  101 ; 
"History  of  the  Naval  War  of 
1812",  102;  "The  Winning  of 


the  West"  result  of  his  West 
ern  experiences,  102;  charac 
ter  of  his  literary  work,  102- 
103;  appointed  Civil  Service 
Commissioner,  103;  in  Wash 
ington,  104;  hunting  trip  in 
the  Rockies,  104-106;  handling 
a  lawless  guide,  105-106;  close 
call  with  a  grizzly,  106;  estab 
lishing  the  merit  system,  106- 
107 ;  overcoming  opposition, 
107-109;  practical  tests  for 
fitness,  110;  discomfiting  a 
Congressman,  111;  Senator 
Gorman's  complaint,  112-113; 
his  handwriting,  113;  applying 
the  merit-system  rules,  114;  a 
falling  out  and  reconciliation, 
115-116;  an  idealist  in  reform, 
116-117;  the  arduous  tasks  of 
his  life,  118;  appointed  Police 
Commissioner,  119;  the  magni 
tude  of  the  work,  120;  trans 
forming  and  reforming  the 
force,  120-121;  helpfulness  of 
Jacob  Riis,  121 ;  Riis'  opinion 
of,  122;  faith  in  the  people, 
123;  handling  an  anti-Semitic 
demagogue,  124;  disloyalty  of 
a  fellow  Commissioner,  124- 
125;  sharp  practice  by  a  dis 
missed  patrolman,  126;  his 
trustful  nature,  127;  his  per 
spicacity,  127-128;  reliance  on 
the  people,  128-129;  the  case 
of  the  police  lodging  rooms, 
129;  his  tenderness,  130;  wide 
range  of  his  interests,  131 ;  the 
prophecy  in  his  "History  of 
New  York  City",  132;  the 
"Happy  Warrior",  133-162;  his 
most  joyous  experience,  134; 
appointed  Assistant  Secretary 
of  the  Navy,  135;  Secretary 
Long's  opinion  of,  135;  return 
to  Washington,  136;  the  fight 
for  preparedness,  136;  increas 
ing  the  efficiency  of  the  Navy, 
139;  the  orders  to  Dewey,  140; 
sinking  of  the  Maine,  141 ;  en 
listment,  141;  a  joke  warship, 
142;  intimacy  with  Leonard 


372 


INDEX 


Roosevelt,  Theodore  (Confirmed) 
Wood,  143;  war  declared, 
143;  declines  first  offer  of 
commission,  144;  choice  of  the 
title  "The  Rough  Riders",  144; 
formation  and  equipment  of 
the  regiment,  145-146;  a  re 
calcitrant  soldier,  147;  ex 
ceeding  authority,  148;  his 
courage  in  action,  148-149;  in 
fluence  with  men  of  the  regi 
ment,  150;  morale  of  the 
regiment,  151;  Tony  Gavin's 
letter  on,  152-157;  sound  ad 
vice  to  his  men,  157;  laughter, 
158;  humor  perceptions,  158; 
humorous  breaches  of  military 
etiquette,  159-160;  sympathy 
between  his  men  and,  160;  a 
joke  on  the  Rough  Riders,  161; 
love  of  combat  for  the  right, 
162;  bas-relief  of,  162;  arrival 
at  Montauk  Point,  163;  the 
"Man  on  Horseback",  163; 
drafted  for  governorship,  164; 
Platt's  aversion  to  and  need  for, 
164;  interview  with  Quigg, 
Platt's  agent,  164;  nominated 
for  Governor,  165;  his  dra 
matic  campaign,  166;  election, 
166;  opposed  by  extreme  Inde 
pendents,  166;  his  energy  and 
industry  in  office,  168;  writes 
"The  Rough  Riders"  and 
"Oliver  Cromwell",  168;  four 
important  measures,  169 ;  oppo 
sition  of  Platt  and  the  bosses, 
169;  cooperation  with  Platt, 
170;  a  bold  stand,  171;  strug 
gle  over  the  Insurance  Bill, 
171;  Platt's  bluff  "called",  172- 
173;  what  he  could  do,  173; 
his  opinion  of  his  position,  174; 
relations  with  the  reporters, 
175;  attitude  toward  capital 
punishment,  175-176;  close  of 
his  term,  176;  his  beautiful 
home  life,  177  et  seq.;  molding 
his  children's  characters,  180; 
letters  to  his  children,  180;  en 
joyment  of  the  governorship, 
181 ;  the  turning  point,  182 ;  de 


sires  a  second  term,  183;  op 
posed  by  Platt,  183;  slated  for 
the  Vice-presidency,  184;  futile 
remonstrance  of,  184-186;  John 
Hay's  letter,  184;  Platt's  threat 
and  the  rejoinder,  186;  the 
Convention  of  1900,  186;  nomi 
nates  McKinley,  186;  Conven 
tion  out  of  hand,  186;  nomi 
nated  for  Vice-president,  187; 
disappointment  and  depression, 
187;  a  man  of  destiny,  187;  in 
the  campaign,  188;  power  in 
his  manner  as  a  public  speak 
er,  188;  eagerness  to  hear  him, 
189;  courage  in  debate,  190; 
joy  in  the  campaign  work,  192; 
growth  in  public  favor,  193; 
his  ambition,  193-196;  prophecy 
of  Speck  von  Sternberg,  194; 
generous  sentiment  to  Curtis 
Guild,  197;  election,  197;  hunt 
ing  trip  to  Colorado,  197;  con 
siders  study  of  law,  198;  con 
sults  Mr.  Justice  White,  198; 
assassination  of  McKinley, 
199;  death  of  McKinley,  200; 
takes  oath  of  office  as  Presi 
dent,  200;  the  Presidential 
plateau,  first  half,  201-228; 
continues  McKinley  policies, 
202;  consultation  with  leaders, 
203;  the  Booker  T.  Washington 
incident,  203-205;  amusing  ex 
perience  of  John  Morley  at 
White  House,  205;  the  Indian- 
ola  post  office,  206;  his  view 
of  the  Negro  Problem,  207; 
conferences  with  Doctor  Wash 
ington,  208;  Labor  and  Capi 
tal,  209;  handling  the  coal 
strike,  210-214;  enjoyment  of 
"Mr.  Dooley",  214;  relations 
with  Senator  Quay,  215;  his 
democratic  spirit,  216;  enjoy 
ment  of  his  work,  217;  his  con 
fidence,  217;  growth  in  public 
esteem,  218;  sharp  talk  to  Ger 
man  Ambassador,  218;  the 
Perdicaris-Raisuli  affair,  219; 
Miss  Hale's  portrait  of,  221; 
attendance  at  church, 


INDEX 


373 


Roosevelt,  Theodore  (Continued) 
greatest  contribution  to  the 
world,  223;  the  Panama  Canal, 
224  et  seq.;  difficulties  with  Co 
lombia,  225  et  seq.;  appoint 
ment  of  Goethals,  228;  desire 
for  election  to  full  term,  230; 
opinion  of  Carlyle,  231;  de 
sire  to  reach  the  plain  people, 
233;  use  of  the  Press,  233; 
relations  with  Senator  Hanna, 
233;  letter  to  d'Estournelles  de 
Constant,  234;  appreciation  of 
his  good  fortune,  236;  election 
of  1904,  236;  the  Lincoln  ring, 
237;  inauguration,  237;  Russo- 
Japanese  War,  238;  first  steps 
for  peace,  239;  Viscount  Kan- 
eko  on,  239;  Baron  Rosen's 
opinion,  240;  the  Treaty  of 
Portsmouth,  241 ;  cutting  Gor- 
dian  knots  of  etiquette,  242; 
precedence  in  the  White 
House,  242;  Nobel  Peace  Prize 
and  its  disposition,  243;  a  trib 
ute  from  the  Press,  243; 
friendship  with  Richard  Ol- 
ney,  247;  the  Brownsville  af 
fair,  249  et  seq.;  ceaseless  ac 
tivity,  253;  some  results  of 
administration,  254;  personal 
ity,  256;  hospitality  in  the 
White  House,  257;  hunting 
trip  in  Mississippi,  259;  an 
artist's  trials  while  portrait 
painting,  260  et  seq.;  happy 
family  life,  265;  his  varied  in 
terests,  266;  letters  to  his  chil 
dren,  268;  athletic  exercise, 
269;  Admiral  Fiske's  testimo 
nial,  270;  twenty-fifth  anni 
versary  of  '80,  271  et  seq.;  the 
Class  picture,  272;  the  talk  at 
the  Class  dinner,  274;  at  Me 
morial  Hall,  274;  renunciation, 
276;  nomination  of  Taft,  277; 
the  African  trip,  279  et  seq.; 
"African  Game  Trails",  281; 
the  pig-skin  library,  282;  re 
turn  to  civilization,  283;  bold 
speech  at  Cairo,  283;  in  Eu 
rope,  284;  the  Vatican  inci 


dent,  284;  meets  Victor  Em 
manuel,  287;  popularity  in 
Italy,  287;  bored  by  kings,  287; 
volume  of  correspondence,  288; 
talks  with  King  Haakon  of 
Norway,  290;  in  Germany,  290; 
estimate  of  the  Kaiser,  291; 
courtesies  shown  by  Kaiser, 
292;  in  England,  293;  the 
Guildhall  Address,  293;  at 
obsequies  of  King  Edward 
VII,  294;  Kipling's  opinion, 
295;  his  astuteness,  295;  the 
charges  of  mendacity,  296; 
truthfulness,  297;  the  Ananias 
Club,  298;  Joseph  H.  Choate's 
tribute,  299 ;  close  of  the  Euro 
pean  tour,  300;  longings  for 
home,  301;  return,  302;  cor 
diality  of  his  reception,  302; 
his  views  on  his  popularity,  303; 
likens  himself  to  Peary,  305; 
his  high  idealism,  306;  mis- 
judgment  of  Taft,  307;  rela 
tions  with  Taft,  308;  summons 
from  the  "Seven  Governors", 
309;  in  Boston,  309;  views  ex 
pressed  to  Judge  Grant,  311; 
the  break  with  Taft,  312; 
speech  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  313; 
the  Recall  of  Judicial  Deci 
sions,  313;  the  Initiative  and 
Referendum,  314;  Taft  renom- 
inated,  315;  election  of  Wilson, 
315;  formation  of  the  Pro 
gressive  Party,  315;  the  Pro 
gressive  Convention,  316;  at 
tacks  on  Roosevelt,  317;  meth 
ods  of  the  Republican  Conven 
tion  of  1912,  317;  nominated 
by  the  Progressives,  319;  at 
tempt  to  assassinate,  320;  op 
position  of  the  Press,  321; 
scurrilous  reports  of  his  use  of 
liquor,  322;  his  suit  for  libel, 
323;  his  temperate  habits,  324; 
the  hour  of  defeat,  325;  James 
Ford  Rhodes  on,  326;  moral 
idealism,  328 ;  development 
throughout  life,  329;  the  trip 
to  the  Brazilian  wilds,  331; 
"Through  the  Brazilian  Wil- 


374 


INDEX 


Roosevelt,  Theodore  (Continued) 
derness",  331 ;  disastrous  re 
sults,  333;  the  challenge  of  the 
World  War,  333;  voicing  the 
popular  demand  for  action, 
334;  aided  by  his  newspaper 
friends,  335;  their  affection  for 
him,  336;  tireless  in  his  efforts, 
337;  declaration  of  war,  337; 
movement  to  raise  regiment, 
338;  offers  services,  338; 
thwarted  by  Wilson,  338;  his 
great  regret,  339;  the  country 
in  low  esteem,  344;  literary 
connections,  346;  the  Grand 
Duke  Boris  incident,  348;  his 
greatness,  349;  the  Barnes  libel 
case,  350;  his  clean  private 
life,  351;  reconciliation  with 
Taft,  353;  religious  faith,  354; 
"The  Great  Adventure",  355; 
growth  in  public  esteem,  357; 
death  of,  357;  last  illness,  357; 
Valiant  for  Truth,  359;  "The 
Happy  Warrior",  360 

Roosevelt,  Quentin  (son  of 
Theodore),  letters  to,  268, 
355 

Roosevelt  Hospital,  357 

"Roosevelt  Luck",   173 

Roosevelt  Memorial  Association, 
346 

"Roosevelt  Museum  of  Natural 
History",  5,  19 

Root,  Elihu,  351 

Rosen,  Baron  Roman  Romano- 
vitch  de,  on  the  Treaty  of 
Portsmouth,  240 

Rough  Riders,  the,  144-162; 
choice  of  the  name,  144;  for 
mation  of  the  regiment,  144; 
pardoning  a  prisoner,  146-148; 
at  San  Juan  Hill,  149;  influ 
ence  over  men  of,  150;  their 
faith  in  him,  150;  morale  of, 
151;  devotion  and  loyalty  to 
Roosevelt,  151-162;  letter  of 
Tony  Gavin,  152-157;  advice  in 
farewell  speech  to,  157;  ludi 
crous  breaches  of  etiquette, 
159,  160;  sympathy  between 
Hoosevelt  and,  160;  at  inaugu 


ration,  237;  at  White  House, 
258 

"Rough  Riders,  The",  Roosevelt, 
158,  168 

"Round  Robin",  the  famous,  149 

Rowing,  preference  for,  17,  18 

Ruskin,  John,  82 

Russia,  238;  ambassador  of, 
348;  Grand  Duke  Boris  of,  348 

Russo-Japanese  War,  238-243; 
Roosevelt  takes  steps  to  stop, 
239-243;  the  Treaty  of  Ports 
mouth,  240,  241 

ST.  GEORGES,  LONDOK,  Roose 
velt's  marriage  in,  100 

Sagamore  Hill,  101,  330,  336, 
347,  348,  357 

San  Juan  Hill,  charge  up,  134, 
149 

Santo  Domingo  Treaty,  255 

Sargent,  Doctor  Dudley  A.,  on 
Roosevelt's  physical  condition, 
33-35 

Schick,  Rev.  John  M.,  222,  223 

Schrank,  attempts  to  assassinate 
Roosevelt,  320,  321 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  141 

"Self-made"  man,  a,  18,  75 

Self-reliance,   his,  29 

Selons,  with  Roosevelt  in  Africa, 
281 

"Seven  Governors",  the  call  from 
the,  309 

Sewall,  William,  78;  quoted,  83, 
85,  86,  89,  94,  95,  97;  letter  to, 
235 

Shafter,  General  William  R.,  149 

Shelley,  Percy  Bysshe,  282 

Sherry's,  New  York,  dinner  to 
"Roosevelt  at,  174,  303 

Shidy  Case,  the,  109 

Shyness,  in  youth,  46 

Sincerity,  his,  27,  297 

"Skipping  rope"  as  physical  ex 
ercise,  35 

"Solid  South",  failed  to  gauge 
feeling  in,  203 

Sorbonne,  Western  incident  re 
lated  to,  87,  265 

South  America,  visits,  331  et  seq. 

Spalding,  Rev.  Mr.,  49 


INDEX 


375 


Spanish  War,  141-160 

Speech,  early  lack  of  fluency  in, 
27,  28 

Spirit,  the  valor  of  his,  11,  14 

Stack,  Tom,  incident  in  saloon 
of,  94 

Sternberg,  Baron  Speck  von,  pre 
diction  of,  194,  195 

Stevenson,  Robert  Louis,  quoted, 

Stone,  Frederick  Mather,  inci 
dent  related  by,  54,  55 

Stow,  Vanderlyn,  meeting  with 
Roosevelt  and  Moody,  161, 
162 

Straus,  Oscar,  on  Roosevelt's 
leading  quality,  130,  329 

Street,  Julian,  337 

Strieker,  Josephine,  Roosevelt's 
secretary,  on  his  trustful  na 
ture,  127,  289,  347,  357,  358 

Strong,  Mayor  William  D.,  ap 
points  Roosevelt  Police  Com 
missioner,  119 

Sumner,  Senator  Charles,  74 

Sunday  School,  experience  as  a 
teacher  in,  49-51 

Superintendent  of  Insurance,  re 
forming  office  of,  169;  fight  for 
the  Bill,  171-173 

Superintendent  of  Public  Works, 
reforming  office  of,  169 

Sweden,  Crown  Prince  of,  348 

Symphony  Hall,   Boston,  272 

TACT,  lack  of  in  youth,  89;  ac 
quired  in  mature  life,  89 

Taft,  William  Howard,  14,  276; 
nominated  for  Presidency,  277, 
278,  279,  294,  306;  Roosevelt's 
misjudgment  of,  307;  relations 
with  Roosevelt,  308;  the  final 
break,  312-315;  renominated, 
315;  defeat  of,  315;  reconcilia 
tion  with  Roosevelt,  353,  354 

Tammany,  100 

Tangier,   219,   220 

Tarlton,  with  Roosevelt  in  Afri 
ca,  281 

Taylor,  "Buck,"  ardent  speech  of, 
165,  166 

Taxidermy,  his  interest  in,  13 


Teamwork,  necessary  in  work  for 

reform,   76 
Tenement      House      Commission 

BiK,  169 

"Tennis  Cabinet",  the,  335 
Tennyson,  Alfred,  330,  331 
Teodoro,  Rio.  See  RIVER  OP 

DOUBT 

TKayer,  Professor  James  B.,  64 
Thayer,  William  Roscoe,  27,  28; 

comment      on      Roosevelt,     45, 

quoted,  72,  288 
"Theodore     Roosevelt     and     his 

Time",  Bishop,  quoted,  95 
"Theodore  Roosevelt's  Letters  to 

His    Children",     edited    by 

Bishop,  180,  181 

"Through   the    Brazilian   Wilder 
ness",  Roosevelt,  331 
Timid,    naturally,    18;    correction 

of  this  defect,  18,  19 
Torch-light    parade,   incident   of, 

30 
Trevelyan,      Sir      George      Otto, 

Roosevelt's  letters  to,  231,  278 
Trinidad,  W.   I.,  unfortunate  re 
mark  at  dinner  at,  227 
Truth,  his  instinct  for,  297 
Turtle,  youthful  interest  in,  5 

"ULYSSES",  Tennyson,  330,  331 
Union  League  Club,  New  York, 
speech  at,  98,  353 

"VALIANT  FOR  TRUTH",  359 

Van  Wyck,  Judge,  defeated  for 
governorship  by  Roosevelt,  166 

"Varieties  of  Religious  Experi 
ence",  James,  quoted,  67,  68 

"Vatican  Incident",  the,  284-286 

Venezuelan  arbitration,  interview 
with  German  Ambassador,  218, 
219 

Vice  in  New  York,  his  fight 
against,  69,  70 

Vice-presidency,  slated  for,  by 
Platt,  184;  reluctance  to  ac 
cept,  184-186;  the  Convention 
of  1900,  185-187;  nominated 
for,  187;  campaign  for,  188- 
197;  Curtis  Guild  in  campaign, 
188,  189,  197;  bold  speech  at 


376 


INDEX 


Vice-presidency   (Continued) 
Denver,    190;    incidents    of   the 
campaign,    192-197;    elected   to 
the,     197;     church     attendance 
during,  222 

Victoria,  Queen,   204,,   205 
Victor     Emmanuel     III,     Roose 
velt's  regard  for,  287 

WAR,  declaration  of  (against 
Spain),  143;  (against  Ger 
many),  337 

"War  Party",  the,  143 

Washburn,  Charles  G.,  comment 
on  Roosevelt,  46;  quoted,  134, 
162;  description  of  Roosevelt, 
168,  302 

Washington,  Booker  T.,  203; 
dines  at  White  House,  204;  re 
sulting  storm,  204,  205,  206, 
207;  Gilman's  talk  with,  208, 
209 

Washington,  D.  C.,  inauguration 
of  Roosevelt,  236,  237 

"Watchful  Waiting",  333 

West,  hunting  trip  in  the,  104- 
106 

Weyler,  General,  148 

Wheeler,  General  Joseph,  151 

White,  Mr.  Justice  Edward 
Douglas,  Roosevelt  seeks  ad 
vice  of,  198 

White,  Henry,  humorousMetter  of 
John  Hay  to,  184,  185 

White  House,  Booker  T.  Wash 
ington  dines  at,  204;  Episcopal 
clergyman  at,  205;  reply  to 
labor  leader  at,  210;  portraits 
painted  at,  221,  259;  prece 


dence  in  the,  242;  life  of,  257; 
Rough  Riders  at,  258;  pets  in 
the,  266 

Whitman,  Walt,  90 

"Wilderness  Hunter,  The", 
quoted,  82 

Will,  his  indomitable,  16,  19 

William  II,  Emperor  of  Ger 
many,  Roosevelt's  meeting 
with,  290-292;  facetious  note 
on  photograph  of,  292 

Wilson,  President  Woodrow, 
Judge  Knowlton's  opinion  of, 
150,  339;  election  of,  315,  333, 
334,  338,  310,  344,  345,  356,  357 

Windsor  Castle,  Booker  T.  Wash 
ington  at,  205 

"Winning  of  the  West,  The", 
Roosevelt,  102 

Winthrop  Street,  Number  16, 
Cambridge,  26 

Wood,  Leonard,  141,  142,  143, 
144,  145,  324 

Woodbury,  John,  Class  secretary, 
quoted,  58,  173,  272,  273;  death 
notice  from,  358 

Woodchuck,  preparation  of 
skeleton  of,  5 

Woods,  Arthur,  254 

World  War,  the,  151,  334; 
United  States  enters,  337; 
Roosevelt's  desire  to  partici 
pate  in,  337-344 

Wrestling,  tries  Japanese,  268, 
269 

YELLOWSTONE  PARK,  99 
"Young    Egypt",    warning    from 
the  party  of,  283  3  ft 


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